CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN 

CHINA ,, 



A Study made by an Educational Commission representing 
THE Mission Boards and Societies conducting work in China 



Committee of Reference and Counsel 

OF THE Foreign Missions Conference of North America 

25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY 



.^^^ 






Copyrighted, 1922 

Committee of Reference and Counsel of the 

Foreign Missions Conference of North America, Inc. 



The Report of the China Educational 
Commission has not been adopted by the 
Committee of Reference and Counsel of 
the Foreign Missions Conference of North 
America nor by the Standing Committee 
of the Conference of Missionary Societies 
in Great Britain and Ireland, nor by any 
Board or Society responsible for educa- 
tional work in China. 



AUG ly lb^2 

©CI.AH77917 



CONTENTS 

I. The Origin of the Commission §§ i-6 

II. The Personnel of the Commission 7-9 

III. The Travels of the Commission 10-13 

ly. The Scope of the Work of the Commission .... 14-16 

vV. What is Christian Education? 17 

VI. The Challenge of China and the Outlook for the Chris- 
tian Movement 18-24 

PART I. THE PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION IN CHINA 

I. Government Education §§ 25-42 

V II. Christian Education — Protestant 43-48 

III. Christian Education — Roman Catholic 49-59 

IV. Privately Supported Education — Christian and Non- 

Christian 60-63 

PART II. THE PLACE, PURPOSE, AND SCOPE OF CHRISTIAN 
EDUCATION IN CHINA 

I. The Aim of the Missionary Enterprise §§ 64 

II. The Place of Education in the Missionary Enterprise . §§ 65-67 

III. The Permanence of Christian Education in China . . 68-76 

IV. The Specific and Immediate Task of Christian Education 77-83 
V. The Scope of Christian Education 84-100 

VI. The Organization of Christian Education ..... 100-114 

VII. The Heart of the Problem 115-118 

PART III. SPECIFIC TYPES AND GRADES OF EDUCATION 

Chapter I. Elementary Education 

I. The Elementary School and the Christian Community §§ 119-121 

II. Christian Elementary Schools and the Chinese System 

of Public Education 122-125 

III. The Number and Distribution of Christian Elementary 

Schools 126-130 

IV. Types of School 131-13S 

V. The Training 136-140 

iii 



iv CONTENTS 

VI. The Teacher I4I-I45 

VII. Organization and Control 146-151 

VIII. Finance IS^-ISS 

IX. Summary of Recommendations I55 

Chapter II. Secondary Education 

I. The Specific Function and Central Importance of Chris- 
tian Middle Schools §§ 156-159 

II. General Statement of the Situation and Outlook . . 160-164 

III. Coeducation 165 

IV. Occupational Training for Boys 166 

V. Types of Schools to be Developed for Boys .... 167-173 

VI. Middle Schools for Girls 174-178 

VII. The Improvement of the Christian Middle Schools . . 179-182 

VIII. Middle School Objectives and Curricula J83-193 

IX. Summary of Recommendations 193 

Chapter III. Collegiate Education 

I. The Genesis of the Christian College §§ 194-195 

II. Recent Developments 196-201 

III. Constructive Proposals 202-214 

IV. Regional Recommendations 215-223 

V. Conclusion 224 

VI. Summary of Recommendations 224 

Chapter IV. The Education of Teachers and the Ad- 
vancement OF Education 

I. The Essentials of an Effective System of Schools . . §§ 226 

II. The Present Status of Christian Schools in China . 227-232 

III. The Training of Teachers 233-234 

IV. Preparation of Primary School Teachers 235-239 

V. Preparation of Middle School Teachers 240-244 

VI. Teachers' Certificates and Degrees 245 

VII. The Training of Supervisors and Principals .... 246-250 

VIII. The Advancement of Education 251-258 

IX. The Training of Teachers in Service 259-262 

X. The Training of Foreign Teachers 263-265 

XI. Summary of Recommendations 265 

Chapter V. Theological Education 

I. The History of Theological Education §§ 266-268 

II. The Present Situation 269-273 

III. Present Problems Stated 274-275 

IV. The Solution of the Problem 276-290 

V. Religious Education 291 



CONTENTS V 

VI. Education for Social Workers 292 

VII. Summary of Recommendations 292 

Chapter VI. Medical Education 

I. History and Present Status of Medical Education . . §§ 293-301 
II. Relation of the Medical Schools and Hospitals to the 

Christian Movement 302-304 

III. Scope of Medical and Pre-Medical Education . . . 305-307 

IV. Schools of Pharmacy 308 

V. Public Health Education 309-311 

VI. Hospitals with Educational Features 312-317 

VII. Future Developments 318-319 

VIII. Specific Recommendations 320-333 

IX. Women's Medical Education 334-339 

X. Schools of Dentistry 340-341 

XI. Summary of Recommendations 341 

Chapter VII. Agricultural Education : Its Place in the 
System of Christian Education in China 

I. Agricultural Work Under Way §§342-343 

II. Evidences of an Increasing Interest 344 

III. Shall the Missions Increase Agricultural Work? . . . 345-346 

IV. Agricultural Education and the Chinese Church . . . 347-348 
V. The Farm Villages and the Kingdom 349-350 

VI. The Task of Agricultural Education 351 

VII. What is the Rural Problem in China? 352 

VIII. A Programme of Education in Agriculture under the 

Auspices of Christian Institutions 353-368 

IX. The Main Objectives of the Agricultural Enterprise . 369 

X. Summary of Recommendations 369 

Chapter VIII. Education in the Social Application of 
Christianity 

I. Introduction §§ 270-272 

II. The Elements of the Problem 373-27S 

III. Proposals 27^277 

Chapter IX. Education in Law^ and Political Science 

I. Law §§378-385 

II. Political Science 386 

Chapter X. Industrial Education and Engineering 

I. Industrial Education §§ 387-401 

II. Schools of Engineering 402-408 

Chapter XL Adult Education §§ 408-418 

Chapter XII. The Education of Women 

I. Introduction § 419 



vi CONTENTS 

II. Early History 420 

III. The Beginnings of Modern Education of Women . . §§421-423 

IV. Present Situation: Proportionate Provision for Educa- 

tion of Boys and Girls 424-434 

V. Problems in Girls' Schools 435-438 

VI. The Part Which Women Will Play in the New China 43f>-444 

VII. Recommendations Concerning Vocational Education . 445-453 

VIII. Education of Adult Women 454-455 

IX. Higher Education 456-458 

X. Summary of Recommendations 458 

Chapter XIII. Religious Education 

I. Introduction §§ 459-461 

II. Character Building 462-473 

III. Religious Education through the Church Service . . . 474-480 

IV. Religious Education in Week Day Schools .... 481-490 
V. Religious Education in the Home ....... 491-497 

Chapter XIV. The Education of Writers §§498-500 

Chapter XV. The Educational Work of the Christian 
Associations 

I. The General Scope and Purpose of Their Work . . §§ 501 

II. Physical and Health Education 502-503 

III. General Education 504-506 

IV. Religious Education 507-510 

Chapter XVI. Physical and Health Education . . . §§511-514 

Chapter XVII. Schools for the Physically Defective . §§ 515-518 

Chapter XVIII. Schools for Foreign Children . . . §§ 519-527 



PART IV. SPECIAL PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION 

Chapter I. The Preparation of the Missionary for Edu- 
cational Work 

I. The Present Situation §§ 528-532 

II. Recommendations 533-545 

Chapter II. InternxVTIonal Cooperation in Christian 

Education §§546-550 

Chapter III. The Conservation of Christian Personali- 
ties to the Church §§ 551-553 

Chapter IV. Research as a Factor in Education . . . §§ 554-559 



CONTENTS vii 

Chapter V. The Language Problem in Epucation 

I. The Problem for the Missionary §§ 558-559 

II. The Problem of English 560 

III. The Problem of Books 561 

IV. The Problem of a Unified Speech 562 

Chapter VI. Summer Schools, Short Courses, and Win- 
ter Institutes 

I. For Teachers §§ 563-568 

II. For Preachers and Other Religious Workers . . . 569 

III. Short Courses for Various Groups of /idults . . . 570-571 

Chapter VII. School and College Libraries 

I. Development of the Reading Habit §§ 572-573 

II. Reference Libraries 574-575 

III. Librarians 576 

IV. Library Extension Work 577-578 

Chapter VIII. The Architecture of School Buildings . §§579-580 

PART V. SUMMARY OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND REC- 
OMMENDATIONS 

I. The Purpose and Spirit of Christian Education . . §§ 582-592 

II. Principles of Extension and Limitation 593-603 

III. Specific Types of Education 604-616 

IV. Resources, Organization, and Support 617-626 



PART VI. REGIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS 

Chapter I. Recommendations That Pertain to All Regions 

I. Elementary Education §§ 629-632 

II. Secondary Education 633-637 

III. Higher Education 638-640 

Chapter II. Recommendations by Regions 

I. North China §§ 6.42-644 

II. East China 645-648 

III. Central China 649-652 

IV. Fukien 653-656 

V. South China 657-661 

VI. West China 662-665 

VII. National 666-667 



viii CONTENTS 

PART VII. THE COST OF EDUCATION AND THE RELATIVE 
PRIORITY OF EDUCATIONAL ENTERPRISES 

Chapter I. The Cost of Various Types of School 

I. Preliminary Observations §§ 668-669 

II. Specific Studies and Estimates 670-684 

III. Implications of this Study 685-689 

Chapter II. Recommendations Classified According to 
Expense Involved 
I. Developments which can be made without Increase in 

Appropriations §§ 692-700 

II. Developments which can be made by Moderate Increase 

in Appropriations 701-707 

III. Developments which will involve Largely Increased 

Expenditures 708-716 

Chapter III. Recommendations Involving Large Expense, 
Classified According to the Order of 
Urgency §§ 717-718 

APPENDICES 

I. Statistical Tables 

II. Findings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the 
National Associated Educational Associations 
(Chinese) 

INDEX 



FOREWORD 

The publication of the Report of the China Educational Com- 
mission marks, in one sense, the completion of an undertaking 
which was begun in 191 7 (See Introduction). In a more vital 
sense, it marks the beginning of a new and very important develop- 
ment in the history of Christian education in China. From this 
time on, as a result of the studies of the Commission, the forces 
concerned with Christian education in China have before them a 
statement of principles which, in the judgment of careful and 
sympathetic students, should underlie all future progress and a 
forecast of opportunities and ideals which should arouse much 
latent energy. 

It will equally be the obligation of the several Boards and Socie- 
ties responsible for the support and administration of Christian 
education in China to give careful heed to the matured conclusions 
of the experts who were set apart to make this study. The Report 
may either lie undisturbed in their archives, useful for the future 
historian of education in China, or it may become a directive 
factor in the educational system of China, influencing powerfully 
the intellectual life of the Chinese Church and of the Chinese 
people. 

It does not follow that the specific recommendations made by 
the Commission must necessarily be adopted. This remarkable 
study will accomplish its purpose if it leads the forces responsible 
for Christian education in China (that is, the Boards at home, 
missionaries on the field and the Chinese leaders) to lay hold of 
the principles which lie at the foundation of the permanent educa- 
tional progress of the Chinese people and to go forward with the 
same spirit of unity which has dominated the work of the Com- 
mission to make an adequate educational Christian programme for 
China. 



X FOREWORD 

In commending this study of Christian education in China to 
the earnest consideration and study of the Boards and Societies, 
we desire to point out that : 

1. The Report has not been adopted by the Committee of 
Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference of 
North America nor by any Board or Society responsible for educa- 
tional work in China. It is sent out, just as the Commission has 
presented it, as the matured conclusions of a body of educational 
experts appointed by the agencies concerned to make this study. 

2. The work of the Commission was very thorough-going. It 
represents a first-hand study of conditions on the part of the 
individual members of the Commission, and conclusions which are 
the result of extended conferences with the leaders in China, both 
Chinese and foreign, leaders who represented not only the Chris- 
tian forces, but also the Government. 

3. The Commission was distinctly international. On it served 
/ representatives of China, of Canada, of Britain, and of the United 

States. 
! 4. The Commission included men and women of long experience 
in educational work, not only as teachers but as administrators. 

5. The Commission was entirely unhampered in its work by 
conditions involved in its appointment or support. 

The sincere thanks of the Committee of Reference and Counsel 
of the Foreign Missions Conference are extended 

1. To the members of the Commission. We appreciate what 
it means igr men and women carrying heavy responsibilities to 
leave their work for a large part of the academic year and to give 
months of time to laborious work and travel in China. It is fitting 
that special mention be made to the remarkable contribution made 
by Professor Burton, the chairman of the Commission. To carry 
to a successful conclusion such an undertaking required unusual 
gifts of leadership. The Christian forces of China and the Boards 
at home are in an vmusual degree indebted to him. 

2. To the Boards of Trustees of institutions which granted 
leaves of absence to important officers so that they might make 
this study. In a remarkable way the action taken by these Boards 



FOREWORD xi 

shows breadth of vision on the part of their members and a 
recognition on their part of a sense of responsibility, not only for 
the affairs of their own institutions, but also for education in the 
largest sense and especially in China. 

3. To the organizations mentioned on page 3. whose gifts of 
money provided the funds necessary to make the work of the 
Commission possible. We would especially emphasize here that 
no conditions were attached to any of these gifts. The Committee 
of Reference and Counsel was left free in organizing the Com- 
mission and the Commission was left free from any hampering 
conditions in the work it was set to do. 

The Committee of Reference and Counsel would do violence to 
its sense of appreciation did it fail to make especial mention of the 
large part taken by its Senior Secretary, Mr. Fennell P. Turner, in 
the organization and carrying to so successful a conclusion this im- 
portant Commission. This burden naturally fell upon him. He 
saw from the beginning the possibility of great usefulness to the 
Missionary Enterprise of the Church in China through such a 
Commission, and he freely gave from his large resources of ex- 
perience and acquaintance in its organization and promotion. He 
was invaluable to the Committee in the selection and the securing of 
a Chairman for so delicate and difficult a task, in the building up 
of the membership of the Commission involving on his part a wide 
and discerning acquaintance, and, on the part of the members, 
prolonged separation from large and important educational and 
ecclesiastical responsibilities, and in the financing and arranging 
for extensive travel, all of which drew heavily upon his unusual 
reserves of experience and judgment which have been so well 
vindicated in the results. 

The Report is commended to those who carry the responsibility, 
not only for conserving what has already been accomplished toward 
building up a system of Christian education in China, but also 
for translating into realities these proposals for the development 
of a system of Christian education adequate to meet the needs 
of the Chinese people and worthy to represent the Christian 
forces at work in China. 



xii FOREWORD 

It is our hope that the plans and programmes adopted by the 
Boards as a result of this study will be in harmony with the funda- 
mental principles which underlie its recommendations. It would 
be unfortunate if those who are responsible for Christian education 
in China should fail to realize that the opportunity has at last been 
attained to put into effect a comprehensive and adequate scheme of 
Christian education for all the Chinese people. 

Wm. I. Chamberlain, Chairman 
Committee of Reference and Counsel of the 
Foreign Missions Conference of North America 



PREFACE 

The instructions, under which the Commission whose report 
is contained in this volume undertook its work, required it to 
study all types and grades of education as carried on in all parts 
of China, and on the basis of such study to suggest to the Chris- 
tian forces engaged in educational work in China a policy for 
the future. The magnitude of this task, the fact that it neces- 
sarily had to do not with the past but with the future, and the 
explicit instructions to the Commission, relieved it of the duty 
of passing qualitative judgment on individual schools. 

Any one who reads the Report through will discover that there 
is considerable repetition. This is in a large part, at least, inten- 
tional. We have assumed that many of those who use the volume 
will wish to find in one place all that the Commission has to say 
on general topics, such as elementary education, and also in one 
place all the recommendations respecting a given region. It has 
also seemed probable that some who consult the volume will wish 
to find a condensed statement of the general conclusions of the 
Commission. With a view to serving the convenience of these 
several classes of readers, we have permitted ourselves whatever 
repetition seemed necessary to make each Part complete m itself. 

We venture to call particular attention to the Summary of Gen- 
eral Principles and Recommendations in Part VI. We are aware 
that many of our recommendations have already been put mto 
effect more or less widely. We have aimed rather at comprehen- 
sion than at novelty. 

Our grateful acknowledgments are due to the many persons 
in England, America, Japan, and especially in China, who have 



xiv PREFACE 

generously assisted us in our work. The list of individuals is far 
too long to permit printing here. It includes educators and mis- 
sionary administrators in the British Empire, the United States, 
Japan and China, officials of the Chinese government, directors and 
teachers in government and private schools, and many members of 
the Christian community in China, both Chinese and foreign. 

Everywhere we have had a most courteous reception and valu- 
able assistance from the representatives of Chinese government 
education, both national and provincial, and we desire here to put 
on record our appreciation of their attitude. Both when they have 
criticized and when they have praised, it has been with an evident 
desire to help make Christian education a valuable part of the 
educational resources of China. 

Naturally we have drawn most heavily on the time and 
resources of the members of the Christian communities. We have 
visited their schools, called them into conferences, asked them to 
make long journeys in order to give us their advice and help. To 
all our requests they have responded most patiently and helpfully. 
To them all we return our hearty thanks. Our thanks are due also 
to those who have furnished us data for our work. We have used 
freely statistical material drawn from various sources, but especi- 
ally from the forthcoming Survey of China in preparation by the 
Continuation Committee. 

We count it a matter of special congratulation that at the time 
of our visit Professor Paul Monroe was in China studying educa- 
tional adjustments and advising with Chinese educational leaders 
with reference to the betterment of the national system. The 
opportunity of repeated conference with him has been a great 
advantage to us. 

The members of the Commission who came from overseas 
desire to place on record their sense, greatly deepened by their 
stay in China, of the devotion, unselfishness and ability of the 
missionary educators. There are immense possibilities for good 
wrapped up in their work, which will more and more come to 
realization as the unity of the task is more clearly seen, as missions 
and denominations attain the measure of self-sacrifice for the 



I^REFACE XV 

common good which the individual missionary has always mani- 
fested, and as institutional ambitions, appropriate to a previous 
period, are merged in the effort to meet the present situation 
effectively, because unitedly. They have been greatly impressed 
with the increase in the power of leadership in the Chinese Christian 
community and deeply moved by the vision which has come of the 
time, which they hope is not far off, when, as the result of the 
whole Christian movement, there shall be in China a Christian 
community characterized by physical health, financial strength, 
keen and broad intelligence, high character, and spiritual power, 
a community endowed with the power of self-development, but 
abounding also in good works to those that are without. Such a 
community will always need the friendship of the Christians of 
other nations, as the latter will need its kindly interest, but it will 
furnish its own leaders, and its financial resources, and will take 
on its shoulders the support and management of its own institu- 
tions, and the even greater task of making China a Christian nation. 
It is the creation of such a community which seems to the Commis- 
sion the principal immediate objective of Christian education in 
China. The opportunity to assist in the attainment of this objec- 
tive is a great challenge to the Christian forces of Europe and 
America. 

Note. — In the editions printed in China sums of money are given in Mexican dollars. 
In the edition printed in America they are stated in gold dollars, except in the chapter 
OK Cost of Education. 



INTRODUCTION 

I. The Origin of the Commission 

1. The first of the several steps which led to the creation of 
the China Educational Commission was taken in China. In April, 
19 1 5, in response to the frequently expressed desire of missionaries, 
the China Christian Educational Association by resolution ex- 
pressed its judgment that there should be "a careful study of the 
higher institutions of learning by a commission of experts." Three 
men from abroad were named as proper persons to compose the 
Commission, and it was suggested that there should also be one 
resident of China. Of the three persons named, one has served on 
the present Commission, and another has made valuable contribu- 
tions to the work. 

2. In the same year the China Continuation Committee at its 
annual meeting, responding to the action of the China Christian 
Educational Association, instructed its Executive Committee to 
cooperate with the Educational Association in arranging for a 
careful study of the higher institutions of learning in China by 
a committee of experts from abroad, and suggested that there be 
Chinese representation on the Commission. 

3. The matter was considered and approved by a special con- 
ference of representatives of Mission Boards held in New York, 
April II, 1917. In April, 1918, the Advisory Council of the China 
Christian Educational Association instructed its Executive Com- 
mittee "to press forward as rapidly as possible in completing the 
arrangements for a survey of Christian educational work in China." 
They again requested the cooperation of the China Continuation 
Committee, and this Committee, at its annual meeting, April, 1918, 



t INTRODUCTION 

reaffirmed its conviction that such a commission was needed, and 
requested the Committee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign 
Missions Conference of North America to join in securing such a 
survey, especially by providing the funds and by appointing the 
Commission which is to come from abroad." 

4. In response to this united request from China, the Com- 
mittee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Con- 
ference in April, 19 18, through its Chairman, Rev. James L. 
Barton, D.D., addressed a communication to the Mission Boards 
conducting work in China inquiring whether they would favor 
sending a special commission of educators to make a study of 
Christian education in China. The majority of Boards replied 
favorably. Conditions created by the War delayed carrying out 
the plan but, in February, 1920, the Committee of Reference and 
Counsel, pursuant to the suggestions and requests above recorded, 
requested the Chairman of the present Commission to serve as the 
Chairman of the proposed Commission, and with the consent of his 
university he accepted the appointment. 

In this year also the foreign mission societies of Great Britain 
were invited to join in the proposed study, and the Conference of 
Missionary Societies in Great Britain and Ireland appointed Pro- 
fessor Percy M. Roxby, of the University of Liverpool, to serve 
on the Commission. 

5. At this time it was hoped that the foreign members of 
the Commission could proceed to China in September, 1920. This 
however proved impossible and the departure was postponed a year. 
Meantime, also, it had been decided to remove the original limita- 
tion of the work of the Commission to higher education and to 
include all education under Christian auspices, and also to increase 
the number of foreign members from three to six, — five from the 
United States and one from Great Britain. This arrangement was 
in a measure reciprocal to that of the Commission of 191 9 to India, 
which consisted of three members from England, one from the 
United States, and one from India. 

6. In connection with the annual meeting of the Foreign 
Missions Conference held in January, 192 1, there were held meet- 



INTRODUCTION 3 

ings of the leaders of the Mission Boards having work in China 
together with missionaries from China, at which the plans for the 
Commission were considered. A sub-committee, appointed by this 
meeting, drew up a suggested budget. This budget was sub- 
sequently approved by the Committee of Reference and Counsel 
and used as the basis for securing the funds necessary to assure 
the dispatch of the Commission, arrangements for which were com- 
pleted in May, 1921. The funds were secured, partly from the 
various Foreign Mission Boards, partly from the Rockefeller 
Foundation of New York City. The following Boards made 
contributions : 

American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. 

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 

Board of Foreign Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Board of Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church in Canada. 

Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. 

Board of Foreign Missions, Reformed Church in America. 

Board of Foreign Missions, Reformed Church in United States. 

Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, Protestant Episcopal Church 

in the U. S. A. 
Foreign Missionary Society, United Brethren in Christ. 
General Mission Board, Church of the Brethren. 

General Missionary Board, Free Methodist Church of North America. 
International Committee, Young Men's Christian Association. 
National Board, Young Women's Christian Association. 
United Christian Missionary Society. 
Yale Foreign Missionary Society. 

II. Tlie Personnel of the Commission 

7. The Commission, as finally constituted, consisted of six- 
teen members, five appointed by the Committee of Reference and 
Counsel, one by the Standing Committee of the Conference of 
Missionary Societies of Great Britain and Ireland, and ten mem- 
bers from China, three of them Chinese, two British and five 
Americans, appointed by a joint committee of the China Christian 
Educational Association and the China Continuation Committee. 

Its membership was as follows : 



INTRODUCTION 

Ernest D. Burton, D.D., Chicago, Illinois, Chairman. 

Professor in the University of Chicago. 
Kenyon L. Butterfield, A.M., LL.D., Amherst, Massachusetts. 

President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. 
Henry B. Graybill, A.M., Canton, China. 

Principal of the Middle School of Canton Christian College. 
P. W. Kuo, Ph.D., Nanking, China. 

President of the National Southeastern University. 
Clara J. Lambert, Foochow, China. 

Principal of the Church Missionary Society School for Girls. 
Yau Tsit Law, A.M., Canton, China. 

Teacher in the True Light Middle School for Girls. 
Francis J. McConnell, D.D., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States; formerly 

President of De Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. 
Chang Po-ling, Litt.D., Tientsin, China. 

President of Nan Kai College. 
Percy M. Roxby, B.A., Liverpool, England. 

Professor of Geography in the University of Liverpool. 

William F. Russell, Ph.D., Iowa City, Iowa. 

Dean of the College of Education of the State Univer'feity of Iowa. 
J. Leighton Stuart, D.D., Peking, China. 

President of Peking University. 

Mrs. Lawrence Thurston, B.S., Nanking, China. 

President of Ginling College. 

Edward W. Wallace, D.D., Chengtu, China. 

General Secretary of the West China Christian Educational Union. 
Mary E. Woollcy, LL.D., South Hadley, Massachusetts. 

President of Mt. Holyoke College. 

Ex-Officio Members 

Frank D. Gamewell, LL.D., Shanghai, China. 

General Secretary of the China Christian Educational Association. 
Edwin C. Lobenstine, A.B., Shanghai, China. 

Secretary of the China Continuation Committee. 

Secretaries of the Commission 

Margaret E. Burton, A.B., New York City. 
Secretary of the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion of the United States. 

Frank W. Padelford, D.D., New York City. 
Executive Secretary of the Board of Education of the Northern Baptist Con- 
vention of the United States. 

Secretary to the Chairman 
Amos M. Mathews, J.D., Cherokee, Iowa. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

8. The members and secretaries of the Commission have 
served without salary, their expens'es only being borne by the Com- 
mission.^ Acknowledgment is due to the various institutions and 
Boards which granted leaves of absence to the several members and 
to the secretaries, that they might serve on the Commission. 

,9. The international character of the Commission, and the 
variety of previous experience of its members, which clearly appear 
from the above list, have been of great value in all its work. An 
even larger participation of Christian Chinese men and women 
would have been desirable and welcome. 

III. The Travels of the Commission 

10. The American members of the Commission, with the 
exception of Mr. McConnell, assembled in Vancouver in August, 
1 92 1, where they were joined by Mr. Roxby, and by Mr. Wallace, 
the latter returning to China after a furlough in America. The 
party sailed on the Empress of Asia August eighteenth, and ar- 
rived in Yokohama August twenty-ninth. Profitable use was made 
of the time on shipboard. Beside the Commission there were 
among the passengers the members of the China Medical Board 
and their guests on the way to Peking to attend the dedication 
of the buildings of the Peking Union Medical College, a number 
of missionary administrators from America and England going 
out to study their fields, over one hundred missionaries, and a 
group of Chinese students returning to China after study or tem- 
porary residence abroad. The Commission met on an average 
twice a day to discuss its work and to confer with some of the 
persons above named on matters of common interest. 

Two weeks spent in Japan and Korea proved profitable 
because of the intrinsic interest of those countries and especially 
because of the broader basis which was thus furnished for the 
study of the problems of China. The Commission arrived in 
Moukden September twelfth, and in Peking September thirteenth. 

11. At Peking the members from Great Britain and the 
United States were joined by the China members, with the ex- 

1 Dr. Padelford made the journey entirely at his own expense. 



6 INTRODUCTION 

ception of Mr. Lobenstine, who was detained by illness, and the >l 
Commission was organized with sixteen of its eighteen members 
present. The distinction between the two groups, as well as dif- 
ferences of nationality, were quickly forgotten, and the whole 
Commission worked together as one body. It was a matter of 
great satisfaction that all the Chinese members were able to be 
present at the Peking meetings of the Commission, and of regret 
that the duties of Mr. Chang and Mr. Kuo made it impossible for 
them to participate in the field work or to take as large a part as 
was hoped in the later conferences of the Commission. 

12. After a little over two weeks spent in Peking and vicinity, 
in exchange of views between the two groups which met there, in 
making definite plans for the work in China, including the prepara- 
tion of a Manual of Field Work, and in visiting various schools, 
the Commission was broken into parties for the study of education 
in different regions. A group consisting of Messrs. Stuart, Butter- 
field, and Roxby, and Miss Law, later joined also by Miss Woolley, 
visited Shansi, Honan, Hunan, Hupeh, as well as certain points in 
the Lower Yangtse Valley. Messrs. Russell, Wallace, Graybill, 
and Padelford, and Miss Lambert, Miss Burton, and Mrs. Thurs- 
ton visited Shantung, and then going through to Shanghai, in 
groups visited Manila, Hongkong, Canton, Swatow, Amoy, and 
Foochow. Mr. Butterfield also later made the journey to Manila, 
Hongkong, and Canton. 

13. After the return of both parties to Shanghai toward the 
end of November, delegations were sent to Nanking, Soochow, 
Hangchow, Ningpo, Shaohsing, and Kashing, and to the schools 
in Shanghai. It was judged to be in the interest of the work of 
the Commission that the Chairman, who had on a previous occasion 
travelled extensively through China, should spend most of his 
time in Peking and Shanghai studying matters which could best be 
dealt with there. Beside these cities, however, he visited Mouk- 
den, Tientsin, Tsinan, Nanking, and Soochow. Mr. Gamewell 
and, Mr. Lobenstine, who were already familiar by long residence 
and extensive journeys with conditions in China, were detained in 
Shanghai by their duties there, especially in connection with the 



INTRODUCTION 7 

National Christian Conference to be held in May, 1922. Mr. 
McConnell, whose official duties, much to the regret of his col- 
leagues, had detained him in the United States, joined the Com- 
mission in Shanghai on November twenty-seventh. 

Regular meetings of the Commission for the study of 
the data gathered on these journeys and otherwise acquired began 
in Shanghai, November twenty-second, and except for occasional 
interruption for visiting schools in the vicinity, continued daily 
until the final adjournment of the Commission, January twenty- 
fourth, 1922. 

The following is the list of cities visited by one or more 
members of the Commission, the delegation varying from one to 
eighteen : Moukden, Peking, Tunghsien, Tientsin, Tsinan, Weih- 
sien, Nanking, Soochow, Shanghai, Hangchow, Ningpo, Shaohsing, 
Kashing, Woosung, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Kakchieh, Chaoy- 
anghsien, Chaochow, Kityang, Canton, Fatshan, Taikuhsien, Tai- 
yuan, Pingting, Chengte, Weihwei, Kaifeng, Hankow, Wuchang, 
Hanyang, Changsha, Chengchow, Kiukiang, Nanchang, Hongkong, 
Manila. 

The Commission visited between four and five hundred 
schools, Christian, government, and private. 

It is a matter of serious regret to the Commission that 
the limitation of its time in China, and the length of the journey 
to West China, rendered more serious by the disturbed state of the 
country, made it impossible to include West China in the areas 
visited. The Commission had, however, the benefit of extended 
conference with missionaries from Szechwan, including a member 
of the Commission who was in constant attendance on its sessions. 



IV. The Scope of the Work of the Commission 

14. The scope of the task which the Commission was in- 
structed to undertake will appear from the resolutions passed by 
the China Christian Educational Association and the China Con- 
tinuation Committee above referred to; and from the following 
extracts from a memorandum adopted by the sub-committee on 



8 INTRODUCTION 

Emergencies and Reference of the Committee of Reference and 
Counsel, August 8, 1921 : 

"It is desired to leave the Commission full freedom as to meth- 
ods of work. It is, however, suggested that the methods include : 

"(i) Conferences with leaders among the Chinese Christians 
and the missionaries (those engaged in evangelistic, medical and educa- 
tional and other forms of service) in as many centers as can be conven- 
iently reached. It may be desirable to break the Commission up into 
groups in order to reach as large a niunber of centers as possible. 

"(2) Interviews with missionaries engaged in all forms of 
service ; with Chinese Christians ; with Chinese officials engaged in educa- 
tional work and in other forms of government service. 

"(3) Visits to educational institutions. The Commission will 
visit as many different institutions as may be possible, schools of all 
grades and types, those under government control as well as those under 
Christian auspices, covering in such visitation as many sections of China 
as time and circimistances will permit. 

"The purpose of the study made by the Commission is to 
inquire sympathetically and carefully into the entire educational situation 
in China and the relation which the educational work carried on in 
China by Foreign Mission Boards and by other Christian forces, either 
Chinese or foreign, should bear to it, and upon the basis of these studies 
to suggest the part which the Mission Boards at work in China might well 
take in the education of the Chinese people. This will involve considera- 
tion of the broad purposes of education, particularly with regard to the 
building of character and training in spiritual leadership which, in view 
of the social, moral, intellectual, economic, political, and religious life 
of the Chinese people, and the international relationships of the nation, 
are to be achieved by education in China. Looking toward the future 
of China, and, in particular, to the development of the Christian com- 
mmiity, the Commission will inquire, on the one hand, what part education 
shall take in building up the Christian Church and, on the other hand, 
among the educational forces of China what part Christian education 
shall take? 

"The studies of the Commission should, therefore, attempt to 
answer such vital questions as these : 

"In view of the evident fact that the major part of education 
must necessarily be done by the government of China, what is the specific 
and distinctive contribution which Christian schools in China ought to 
make to the total educational task? 

"Should the emphasis of their work be mainly on quantity or 
on quality — on the number of schools and of pupils in these schools or on 



INTRODUCTION 9 

the influence exerted by them by virtue of the character of their work? 

Should education as conducted by the Christian forces look 
solely to the raising up of leaders in the work of the Christian churches, 
and the development of the Christian community, or should it also seek, 
directly or indirectly, the welfare of the whole people? 

"The educational work as developed and carried on by the 
Mission Boards has included elementary, secondary and higher education. 
Where shall the emphasis be placed in the future? Shall it deal with 
all the types of education, professional and non-professional, technical and 
non-technical, or shall it limit itself to certain specific types? If the 
latter, which types shall it develop? Shall it seek only to produce lead- 
ership for the church, in the different forms of activity, or shall it also 
seek to prepare high-minded and efficient teachers for public schools and, 
through such means and otherwise, to influence helpfully the entire educa- 
tional situation. 

"The Commission will endeavor to make suggestions looking 
towards the formulation, by the Mission Boards and Chinese Christian 
forces, of an educational program which will be possible for the Christian 
agencies, foreign and Chinese, to achieve, account being taken of what 
the state will do in education and of the resources of the Christian forces, 
and of their responsibility to all other forms of Christian effort as carried 
on in China by the Mission Boards. It will consider whether our Chris- 
tian schools must parallel the State schools in every respect, or must 
accept for themselves a specific task and make to the life of China a 
contribution which cannot be made by any other agency. 

"It will not be the purpose of the Commission to pronounce 
judgment on individual institutions. Its task will be rather the more 
important one of a painstaking and careful study of educational conditions 
in the country, of stating general principles, proposing a general program, 
including the educational needs of certain areas, and suggesting stand- 
ards by which the Boards may be guided. The application of these con- 
clusions to the several institutions must be made by the bodies responsible 
for their maintenance and management." 

15. The following extract from a letter from Mr, J. H. 
Oldham, Secretary of the Conference of Missionary Societies of 
Great Britain and Ireland, will serve also to show the point of 
view of the British societies : 

"The purpose of the Commission, if I understand the matter 
aright, is to enable the Foreign Mission Boards — and, so far as it may 
desire to avail itself of the results, the Chinese church — to determine 
how their available resources in men and money can be expended during 



io INTRODUCTION 

the next few years to the best advantage for the Christian good of the 
Chinese people. The objects of the Boards are the spread in China of 
the knowledge of Christ, the raising up of a strong leadership, ministerial 
and lay, for the Christian community, and the contribution to the general 
system of education of that distinctive and rich type which finds its 
inspiration in the Christian conception of life. I hope the Commission 
will attempt to state as clearly and definitely as possible the policy which 
with the given resources will most conduce to the realization of these 
aims (or such other definition of aims as the Commission may judge 
most adequately to represent the purposes of the Boards)." 

1 6. In harmony with these several communications the Com- 
mission has been more concerned with present conditions than with 
past history, but has studied both with a view not to criticising 
them but to judging what should be the policy of the future. It 
has visited many schools, for the purpose of grasping the 
whole situation rather than of passing judgment on individual 
institutions. The latter would have consumed to little purpose 
the time and energy that were needed for what was judged a far 
more important task. When individual schools are mentioned it 
is to illustrate a recommendation or, in conformity with our 
instructions, to endeavor to define a policy for a region. 

V, PVhat is Christian Education f 

17. We have already employed the term "Christian Educa- 
tion" and shall have occasion to use it repeatedly in the Report. 
It is in common use, but apparently with a considerable and per- 
haps legitimate variety of meanings. For the purposes, however, 
of a report in which the term must constantly appear, it seems 
necessary to indicate somewhat exactly the sense in which the 
phrase is to be employed. In the judgment of the Commission the 
essential and distinctive characteristic of Christian Education lies 
not in the body under whose authority it is conducted, nor in the 
ecclesiastical relations of the persons conducting it, nor in the 
subject-matter of the curriculum, but in its spirit and purpose. 
In the strict sense the term applies to education which is conducted 
in the Christian spirit and which aims to exemplify and impart 



INTRODUCTION ii 

j that spirit. It might correctly be apphed to a Sunday-school or to 
a School of Commerce ; but either might be so conducted as not 
i to deserve the title. 

When, however, we speak of Christian Education with reference 
I to a general scheme or system of schools, and of the measures that 
: will be necessary to conserve their Christian character, it becomes 
evident that the question of personalities and of control will have 
It to be taken into account. Only in case a system of schools is con- 
I trolled by a body, itself composed of Christian men and women, 
j can there be any guarantee that the schools will continue to be 
j Christian. When church and state are united, it is possible that 
I this condition should be fulfilled in a system of government 
education ; when, however, church and state are separate, and the 
officers of government are selected for other qualifications than 
their religious character, though it is always possible that, by reason 
of the character and ideals of the teachers, a given school shall be 
essentially and vitally Christian, yet there is no guarantee or cer- 
tainty that schools established and maintained by the government, 
whether municipal, provincial, or national, will continue to be 
Christian in character. 

In China, therefore, in reference to a system of schools 
designed to be at least measurably permanent, the term Christian 
is naturally and properly used as over against a system of schools 
conducted by the government, or by voluntary non-Christian 
agencies, to designate education which is controlled by Christian 
men or women, is conducted from a Christian motive, and aims 
to impart to those who receive it the knowledge and training which 
will most contribute to worthy living, individual and social, and 
especially to generate in them that Christian spirit which is its 
own governing motive. 

It is in this sense that in this Report, dealing as it does 
not with isolated schools but with groups and a developing system 
of education, the term Christian Education will be used. The term 
carries in itself no implication of the grade of the school, the sub- 
ject-matter of the curriculum, or the class of pupils for whom it is 
intended. 



12 INTRODUCTION 

For practical convenience the term Christian Education 
is used in this Report with chief or exclusive reference to educa- 
tion under Protestant Christian auspices. This is v^ith no intention 
of ignoring the many schools of the Roman Catholic missions, but 
because their educational work does not come within the scope of 1 
the study. 

VI. The Challenge of China and the Outlook for the 
Christian Movement 

1 8. The Introduction is not the appropriate place for conclu- 
sions. Yet if we could enable the reader to see China through our 
eyes as we see it after our months of study, he would understand 
better than he can otherwise the facts that we state and the recom- 
mendations that we make in the body of the Report. These con- 
cluding paragraphs of the Introduction will then be an attempt to 
set forth some of the outstanding facts that condition the whole 
future of the Christian movement in China and must be taken into 
account in any educational plans. 

19. The political condition of China is one of instability and 
the future is still uncertain. The Manchu Dynasty developed a 
system of government of which political corruption was almost an 
essential part, and left it as an inheritance to the nation when that 
dynasty was overthrown in 191 1. The establishment of the Repub- 
lic did not end political corruption. Intelligent observers say that 
it has increased. This state of affairs hangs as a millstone around 
the neck of China. It hinders internal development whether in 
communication, health, or education. It complicates and embar- 
rasses international relations. It is a damage not only to China, 
but to the whole family of nations, introducing an element of 
danger into a situation difficult enough at best. The evil is dis- 
tinctly a moral one; the only remedy for it is moral, and in large 
part through an education permeated with sound moral ideas and 
ideals. No increase of technical efficiency will correct this funda- 
mental danger. 

20. Despite this ethical situation there is a large group of 



INTRODUCTION 13 

high-minded Chinese who are determined to build up in China a 
strong educational system. They are courageous, patriotic, earnest, ^ 
intelligent, self-sacrificing. Some of them are in government ser- 
vice, some of them not; some of them Christians, some of them 
non-Christians. These men are in touch with one another. Con- 
ferences are frequently held at which important educational ques- 
tions are discussed; They have magazines for the expression of 
their ideas, and with government aid seek the help of able foreign- 
ers. Moreover, despite the relative poverty of China and the 
waste of public money due to political corruption, government and 
private schools are able to command resources far beyond those 
of the Christian schools. The long-time interest of the Chinese in 
education has been turned into a new channel. The old examina- 
tion system is gone; the old-time, inefficient private schools are 
going. In their places is rising rapidly a new system of Chinese 
education which, despite all its defects, promises great things for 
the future. 

21. In these new developments the more forward-looking and 
alert-minded Chinese, both Christians and non-Christians, are 
deeply and rightly interested. These schools are theirs as no 
schools supported and controlled by foreigners can be. All their 
old, traditional love of things Chinese, and all their new nationalism 
unite to stimulate this interest and make them enthusiastic for the 
development and support of schools of this type. Despite the fact 
that as yet the government schools reach but a small fraction of the 
population of school age, they already have many times the num- 
ber of pupils in the Christian schools and promise still further * 
development. Moveover, in equipment and in some forms of 
efficiency they are close rivals of the Christian schools, or even 
superior to some of the latter. 

22. These facts put the Christian schools in a very different 
position from that which they occcupied a few years ago when they 
were almost the only schools in China conducted on modern lines. 
They signify that there is no longer any possibility of successful 
competition on the basis of numbers. That contest is over and 
the schools established by the Chinese in the last fifteen years 



14 INTRODUCTION 

have won it. Henceforth the Christian schools must base their 
claims on quality alone. There is nothing but this to attract the 
non-Christian, and even the Christian will prefer a good non- 
Christian school to a poor Christian school. Henceforth, it matters 
not nearly so much how many schools we have as how good they 
are. Moreover, the Christian schools will more and more be 
classed together, and every poor school will be a liability. 

23. The Christian schools must also as rapidly as possible 
divest themselves of their foreign character. In the days before 
1900, this was an advantage to them, because it stood for a certain 
quality that was not found in the native school. It is still so to a 
certain extent and in certain respects. But it will be decreasingly 
so as the new Chinese schools continue to improve. It must be 
remembered that Chinese Christians are Chinese as well as Chris- 
tian, and that the very patriotism which Christianity tends to pro- 
duce will draw them away from a school whose atmosphere is 
ioreign and to one that is Chinese. It is not wise to compel them 
to choose between these alternatives. The Christian school must 
become as rapidly as possible thoroughly Chinese as well as 
thoroughly Christian, if it is to attract students or to win the finan- 
cial support of the Chinese. Wealthy non-Christian Chinese are 
even now gladly helping to support Christian schools of high 
quality. But the time may soon come when even Christian Chinese 
of wealth will be more interested in non-Christian schools that are 
thoroughly Chinese than in Christian schools that are not. 

24. These facts taken together point clearly to the opportunity 
of the Christian school. Thoroughly Christian in its character and 
thoroughly Chinese in its atmosphere, raised to a high level of 
efficiency, it can render a service which a school lacking any of these 
characteristics cannot at all perform. It can furnish in the new 
life of China a force that can come from no other source. It can 
determine the character of the part which China will play in the 
drama of international life. It cannot do this simply by large gifts 
of money ; this might even prevent the schools from meeting their 
present opportunity if it were so used as to emphasize the foreign 
character of the schools, or to weaken their moral influence. The 



INTRODUCTION 15 

situation calls for large gifts of money, for quality is more costly 
than quantity; but it calls also for a wise policy steadily adhered 
to. It calls for men and women, but only for men and women of 
high Christian character, with a spirit of self-sacrifice which will 
make them ready to help forward the process of transferring the 
schools into the hands of the Chinese as fast as they are prepared 
to receive them, and with training which will enable them to make 
the schools of the first class educationally. More men of any other 
kind may only tend to hinder the real success of the Christian 
schools. 

There is always a temptation to see a crisis in any situation with 
which we are dealing. But it is our sober judgment that there has 
developed in these last few years and is still in process of develop- 
ment a new opportunity for the Christian schools of China, an 
opportunity by being more efficient, more Christian, more Chinese, 
to render to China and to Christianity a service which no other 
institutions can render. In this new day it will be quality, not 
numbers that will count. But if we meet the situation and make 
such schools as the hour requires, we cannot have too many of 
them. We look for the day when Chinese Christianity shall have 
become so strong that it will need only the friendship of the 
Christians of other nations. But that day is not yet. Now is the 
hour of opportunity so to strengthen the Christian schools of China 
that from them shall come the men and women who will make 
China a Christian nation. 



PART I 

THE PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 
IN CHINA 

I. Government Education 

25. The present system of public education in China was 
introduced about fifteen years ago. The government has out- 
Hned a complete system although not able as yet to put it into 
effect in all sections. 

26. China cannot be said to have had any government 
schools under the old educational system. Education was left to 
private effort, but literary attainment was decided by the govern- 
ment through its system of competitive examination and rewarded 
by official recognition. When China was forced to join the family 
of nations, she discovered that, in order to preserve her national 
existence, she had to modify her system of education. Instead 
of devoting all her attention to the study of the classics, she now 
seeks to understand the sciences, literature, art, laws, and govern- 
ment of western countries. 

27. It was in 1898 that Emperor Kuang Hsu issued the 
famous edicts that brought on the greatest revolution in the his- 
tory of China. Among these was an edict outlining the organ- 
ization of a national system of modern schools for teaching Chi- 
nese and western learning. The scheme provided for the estab- 
lishment of schools and colleges in the districts, prefectures, and 
provincial capitals, the whole to be capped with a university in 
Peking. Soon after the promulgation of this edict schools began 
to spring up over the country. 

17 



i8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

In 1 90 1 the Empress Dowager issued an edict ordering 
the provincial examination halls to be turned into colleges. A 
middle school was to be opened in each prefecture, an elementary 
school in each district, and primary schools in large numbers. 
Other edicts appeared for the establishment of colleges in the 
leading cities, the opening of normal schools and an educational 
board in Peking, and modifications of the competitive examina- 
tions. It was found that as long as the old examination system 
was retained the modern schools would not prosper. So in Sep- 
tember, 1905, the old-style literary examination was abolished. 

28. The Revolution of 191 1 was a landmark in the history 
of education in China. Soon after its organization the Pro- 
visional Government turned its attention to popular education. 
It demanded the use of textbooks in harmony with the spirit of 
republicanism, emphasized manual work, military and physical 
exercises, eliminated the classics from the primary school, and 
permitted boys and girls to study together in the same lower pri- 
mary schools. It also stressed social education. 

29. At the head of the modern system is the Ministry of 
Education, with its Minister of Education, who is assisted by a 
Vice-Minister and four Councillors. The work of the Ministry 
is divided into the Bureau of General Education, which has 
charge of kindergartens, primary, middle, and normal schools, 
school attendance, certification and appointment of teachers ; the 
Bureau of Technical and Professional Education, which looks 
after the affairs of colleges and universities, higher technical 
schools, and the sending of students abroad ; and the Bureau 
of Social Education, which has charge of affairs relating to popu- 
lar education, public lectures, libraries, museums, and exhibits. 
The Ministry of Education sends out inspectors to visit the 
schools of the various provinces. Each province is an admin- 
istrative area with a Commissioner of Education, who takes 
charge of the educational affairs. He is the agent of the Ministry 
of Education, and has a corps of assistants. Each province has 
also a number of inspectors, who visit schools and make reports. 
Each district has its board of education and certain of the gentry 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 19 

are selected to manage the educational affairs in cities, towns and 
villages. 

30. At the base of the present system is the lower primary 
or citizen school of four years. After completing this course a 
pupil may enter a higher primary or an industrial school of the 
B class, which course covers three years. From the higher pri- 
mary a pupil may go to a middle school, a course of four years, 
to an industrial school of the A class, or to a normal school. For 
pupils who cannot go on to a higher grade after finishing the lower 
primary or higher primary school, supplementary courses of two 
years are provided. A pupil may go from the middle school to 
a university, which has a preparatory course of two years and 
a collegiate course of four years, or he may go to a professional 
school or a higher normal school. The regular higher normal 
school course requires four years, with one preparatory year. 
The industrial school also requires a preparatory year, and its 
course covers three years. 

31. Primary education aims to develop a child mentally and 
physically, lay the foundation of good citizenship, and enable 
him to make his own living in the world. These aims are com- 
mon to the lower and higher primary schools. The responsibility 
for establishing primary schools and kindergartens rests with the 
cities, towns and villages. Higher primary schools are established 
by the districts. Schools for defectives are managed in the same 
way as the primary schools. On the whole the primary schools 
throughout the country are doing good work. 

32. The middle school aims to complete the general education 
of a child and to make him an efficient citizen. The provincial 
authorities are responsible for the establishment of middle schools, 
which are maintained by the revenue of the province. At pres- 
ent the middle schools form the weakest point in the Chinese 
system of education. Statistics collected by the Kiangsu Edu- 
cational Association show that seventy per cent of middle school 
graduates can not find positions in which they can earn a living. 
The difficulty in the middle schools is with the methods of in- 
struction and also with the subjects taught. At present the lee- 



20 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ture method is used almost exclusively, and the students are pas- 
sive. The consequence is that they learn names and titles, but 
gain no real mastery of the subject. The recitation and the 
laboratory method ought to be introduced. 

33. The university aims to train men of ability for the serv- 
ice of the state. Its preparatory department has three groups of 
courses. One is for students who wish to enter the school of 
arts, law, and commerce; another is for those who look forward 
to entering the school of science ; and the third is for those who 
intend to enter the school of medicine. The university offers 
courses in arts, science, including applied science, law, commerce, 
medicine, and agriculture. 

34. Professional schools, which may be established by the 
central government, provincial authorities, or private individuals, 
aim to train for some special profession or vocation. They may 
be classed as schools of law, medicine, agriculture, commerce, 
art, music, science, and languages. 

35. The aim of the ordinary normal schools is to train ele- 
mentary school teachers. The higher normal schools are to train 
teachers for the middle and normal schools. The provinces sup- 
port the ordinary normal schools; the higher normal schools are 
maintained by the central government. Normal and higher nor- 
mal students do not now pay tuition, but there is a trend towards 
such charges. 

36. Industrial schools aim to impart the knowledge and 
skill required in trades, commerce, and agriculture. The B grade 
gives an elementary industrial education according to the needs 
of localities ; the A grade gives a complete general industrial 
education. The B grade schools are established by the districts, 
cities, towns, and villages, or by bureaus of trade, commerce, and 
agriculture; those of the A grade are established by the province. 

37. It is thus seen that, generally speaking, the central gov- 
ernment is responsible for higher education^ the provincial gov- 
ernment looks after secondary education, and elementary educa- 
tion is in the hands of district officials and the gentry of cities, 
towns, and villages. 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 21 

38. According to available statistics the number of pupils in 
schools in China during 1917 was 4,075,338. This grand total 
is made up of 3,898,065 boys and 177,237 girls. The total num- 
ber of schools was 122,286. But cf. Appendix I, Table III, 

39. The present system as described in the above paragraphs 
was borrowed largely from the Japanese and has been found in 
some ways not suited to the needs of the country. A new sys- 
tem is now before the country for consideration, having been 
approved by the National Associated Educational Associations 
at the annual meeting held in Canton in 1921. 

40. As the present system stands there are seven primary 
years, of which four are spent in the lower and three in the higher 
primary schools. The division into higher and lower primary 
is discarded in the new system, and if that is adopted the pri- 
mary schools will take the form of a single grade. However, 
the primary course may be divided into two sections, four years 
and two years, and schools giving instruction only in the first 
four years may be established. After the fourth school year 
special courses for vocational preparation may be added. Com- 
pulsory education is fixed at four years for the present, but this 
period should be prolonged where possible. 

41. The greatest change is proposed in the middle school 
period. At present the middle school course is four years. The 
new plan calls for a six-year period, which is divided between 
three years of general work, corresponding to the junior high 
school in America, and three years of a somewhat specialized 
vocational training, fitting the students for further work in such 
subjects as engineering, law, medicine, in higher schools, or for 
taking" up some special line of activity outside of the schools. 
This system makes it possible for those who plan to go on to a 
higher education to do so, and at the same time gives definite 
vocational training for those who are to leave school after the 
middle school period. It is rapidly being adopted in America 
and the European countries ; so in making this change China is 
falling in line with the progressive countries of the West. The 
elective system is to be introduced in the senior middle school 



22 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

course. Thus it will be seen that the proposed plan permits 
flexibility and adaptation to local conditions. 

42. Until there is a stable government in China and reliable 
revenues are provided for the support of schools, education will 
make but slow progress in this country. Strikes of students, 
teachers and school administrators, including the staff of the 
Ministry of Education, to enforce payment of arrears in salary 
have been too frequent. Nevertheless, in spite of internal strife 
and the diversion of school funds to military purposes, there is 
a genuine interest in education among all classes. The fact that 
the seventh annual meeting of the .National Associated Educa- 
tional Associations met in Canton last October, when delegates 
from the central and northern provinces were in attendance, shows 
that the country is united educationally. (For proceedings of this 
meeting see Appendix II.) One of the hopeful signs of the 
times is the formation of the Educational Reform Society, backed 
by the men who are really doing educational work in the country, 
which will endeavor to put the new system into operation. 

II. Christian Education — Protestant 

43. Educational work under the auspices of Protestant 
Christianity dates from the year 1839, when Dr. R. S. Brown 
opened a school at Macao. Christian ^ schools were at first estab- 
lished not by professional educators and not for the promotion 
of education for education's sake, but as an adjunct and aid to 
evangelization. Once established, however, the schools vindi- 
cated their right to live not only by serving the end for which 
they were originally founded but by contributing effectively to 
the other ends which missionary work began to set for itself. As 
a result they grew in number, size, and variety of specific char- 
acter ranging from the kindergarten to the college, and even in 
a few cases undertaking (post-) graduate work. 

44. The large majority of the schools were originally es- 
tablished by denominational Boards or societies, and most ele- 

^ In Sections 43-48 the term Christian is used for brevity's sake in the sense 
of Protestant Christian. 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 23 

mentary and secondary schools are still carried on by these agen- 
cies. Since about the beginning of this century, however, partly 
as a result of the Boxer movement of 1900, which, especially 
in Northern China, destroyed the school buildings and thus gave 
opportunity for denominations that had been working apart to 
unite and to build better schools, partly because of the develop- 
ment of the spirit of unity both in Christian lands and in China, 
partly in consequence of the incoming of higher educational 
ideals, there has been a decided tendency toward union efforts in 
the field of higher education. In West China the missions were 
established in so recent a period that they were greatly influenced 
by the general trend toward union or at least cooperation, and 
the younger missionaries who went to the far west of China were 
able to avail themselves of the experience of their older fellow- 
workers. As a consequence we have in the Province of Szechwan 
a division of territory among the different missions, a general 
school system covering all elementary and secondary Christian 
schools, and a single university in the conduct and support of 
which practically all the Christian forces unite. 

45. The new educational movement of the government, dat- 
ing from 1900, has acted as a powerful stimulus to the raising 
of educational standards and the application of educational tests 
to the schools, and as a means to the end of attaining higher 
standards to unification of effort. Of the fourteen institutions 
undertaking senior college work only three are maintained by 
a single denomination ; there are ten union theological schools, 
and but two medical schools are sustained by a single Board. 

46. The total figures representing the educational work con- 
ducted by the Christian forces of China are large and bear tes- 
timony to the extent and power of the Christian movement. Of 
the one hundred and thirty Missionary Boards carrying on work 
in China, practically all are doing educational work. The Young 
Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian 
Association supplement the work of the other Christian organiza- 
tions especially in adult education, education for the underprivi- 
leged classes, and continuation schools. In round numbers there 



L^ 



2.1 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

are 1200 foreign teachers in Christian schools, 11,000 Chinese 
teachers, 150,000 pupils in lower primary schools, 33,000 in 
higher primary schools, 15,000 in middle schools, 600 in teacher- 
training schools of various grades, and 2,000 in colleges and pro- 
fessional schools; a total of approximately 205,000 in Christian 
schools of all grades and types. Though there is but one Prot- 
estant Christian communicant in approximately every one thou- 
sand of the total population, there is one pupil in a Christian 
school for every thirty of the recorded school population. This 
fact reflects in part a greater desire for education among Chris- 
tians, in part a contribution of Christian schools to the educa- 
tion of non-Christians. Broadly speaking, one-half of the pupils 
in Christian schools come from non-Christian families. See Ap- 
pendix I, Table II. 

47. Even these figures are small compared with those of 
government schools. Taken all together, government schools 
have about twenty times as many pupils as the Protestant Chris- 
tian schools, and the preponderance of the figures for government 
education over those for Christian schools will doubtless increase 
rather than diminish. 

48. The case for the Christian schools does not rest upon 
the number of such schools that have been built up or on the 
number of pupils. Their sufficient vindication is found in the 
place which their graduates are already taking in the life of the 

.nation and the church, and the influence which the schools them- 
selves are exerting. Despite many defects due to the way in 
which they arose and the inadequate support which they have 
received, they have sent out men and women who are to-day hold- 
ing places of great importance and exerting a significant influence 
in government, in education, in business aflfairs, and in the de- 
veloping life of the Christian church. On these men and women 
and those who will follow them will in large part rest the re- 
sponsibility for the building up of the church and for the permea- 
V tion of industry, commerce, and politics with those higher ideals 
which are essential to the attainment by China of a healthy na- 
tional life and that place among the nations which her native 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 25 

ability and the extent of her resources naturally give her. The 
Christian school has abundantly proved its right to live. The 
question as to what the course of its development and general 
policy should be is discussed later in this report. 

III. Christian Education — Roman Catholic 

49. The educational work of the Roman Catholic Church, 
except in a few large centers, cannot be classified into lower 
primary, higher primary, and middle schools. From this one 
must not infer that gaps exist in the system, for educational facili- 
ties from the lower primary school to the university are provided, 
though frequently at considerable inconvenience to the students. 
The difficulty is inherent in the terminology, in the lack of uni- 
formity in the statistical returns, and in the wide differences in 
nationality between the educational workers of the various Roman 
Catholic Church Societies. 

50. It will perhaps be fairer to those supplying the data 
on this subject, if we accept the French terminology as used in 
"Les Missions de Chine." In most cases "ficoles de gargons" 
and "ficoles de filles" may be regarded as lower primary schools. 
Occasionally a distinction is made by the use of the terms "£coles 
Primaires" and ficoles Superieurs," which might indicate that in 
a number of centers work of higher primary school grade is 
done. There is no conclusive evidence in the sources consulted 
to lead one to infer that Roman Catholic Church missions are 
making any serious attempt to follow the Chinese government 
system of education, either in grading or curricula. 

51. Obviously a great deal of educational work is done in 
connection with Roman Catholic Church orphanages, of which 
there are between one hundred and fifty and two hundred in 
China, by far the largest number being for girls, where between 
15,000 and 20,000 children are cared for. In answer to the 
question whether the educational work done in these orphanages 
is included in statistical returns under "ficoles de garqons" and 
ficoles de filles," the assurance has repeatedly been given that 
this is not the case. 



26 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

52. The educational work of the Roman Catholic Church 
extends over every province and into every administrative dis- 
trict of China, including Tibet, Kokonor, and Outer Mongolia. 
While this work is primarily for the children of the church, non- 
Christian students are also received. Practically every bishopric 
in China, of which there are about fifty, reports some educational 
work. In bishoprics in the far interior where as yet the strength 
of the church is not great, education of lower primary grade 
only is given, but every bishopric has its seminary where work- 
ers are trained. 

53. The following summaries, are based on statistical in- 
formation contained in "Les Missions de Chine" for 1920 and 
1 92 1. Due to incompleteness in returns, the figures must be ac- 
cepted as most conservative. 

Schools for boys 3,518 

Pupils ' 83,757 

Schools for girls 2,615 

Pupils 53.283 

Normal schools 16 

Students 612 

Colleges 61 

Students 4>503 

Seminaries 45 

Theological students 582 

Catechists 1,607 

Total number in Roman Catholic Schools 144,344 

54. The provinces of Chihli, Kiangsu, Hupeh, Shansi, 
Anhwei, and Szechwan appear to have the largest number of 
students under Christian instruction. Higher education cor- 
responding to government middle school work is emphasized in 
Chihli, Shantung, Chekiang, Fukien, Kwangtung. The cities 
where the greatest amount of educational work is done are, in 
order, Peking, Shanghai, Tientsin, Hongkong, and Hankow. The 
thirteen Catholic presses exercise some influence upon the in- 
tellectual life of students, although not to the extent one might 
anticipate, since the major part of the literature is devotional in 
character. 

55. The incomplete figures indicate in a very imperfect way 
the higher educational work of the Roman church. Moreover, 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 27 

they give no indication of the grade of the schools or quality of 
work. In some instances what is termed a "college," judged 
according to the standards of the government educational system, 
would appear to be a middle school. The requirements for ad- 
mission into the seminaries vary greatly and no uniform stand- 
ard of work exists. A number of them have less than a score 
of students. 

On the other hand those who know the scholarship of 
many Roman Catholic missionary educators and the high quality 
of their literary and scientific productions will at once be ready 
to admit the high intellectual standards of several of their edu- 
cational institutions. The College of St. Ignace de Zi-ka-wei, 
Shanghai, founded in 1850, is an example of this latter type. 
Such schools as the College de St. Ignace (420 students), the 
College de St. Francis Xavier, and Universite L'Aurore with its 
special departments in medicine, languages and arts, theology, 
sciences and technical subjects, do splendid educational work. 
However, after all is said, and after full cognizance and apprecia- 
tion of such work is given, the fact remains that for a church 
numbering over two million Christians the total work done in 
higher education is much below general expectations, and cer- 
tainly much below the need of its Christian constituency. 

56. Considerable emphasis is given by the Roman Catholic 
Church to religious education. "Iicoles de Catechumens" are 
reported for each episcopal area, enrolling large numbers of chil- 
dren and adults of both sexes. These schools for religious edu- 
cation are connected with churches and chapels and generally are 
under the direct supervision of the priest in charge. Much time 
is also given to religious education in the orphanages, hospitals, 
and homes for the poor and aged. The Roman Catholic Church 
in China reports a body of catechumens exceeding 400,000 in 
number, or over twenty per cent of the total number of Christians 
enrolled. In addition to seminaries where candidates are pre- 
pared for the priesthood, there are a number of schools for 
catechists where these workers receive special training. 

57. In connection with the orphanages much work is done 



28 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

in industrial training. The productions of these schools are of 
high quality and in much demand. The instruction and work 
of both children and adults are under the supervision of priests 
and sisters, who are often professionally trained, or have had 
much practical experience. The schools are run on self-support- 
ing lines. The best example of industrial education and work is 
to be found in the Zi-ka-wei Orphanage, Shanghai. 

58. Wherever there is a sufficient number of foreign Roman 
Catholic Church members to call for special services of worship 
and spiritual oversight, there is a secular school under the direc- 
tion of one of the religious societies. Over 2000, and possibly 
as many as 3000 children of foreigners and Eurasians, are en- 
rolled in these schools. Some students are boarders. The major 
part of this educational work is done in Tientsin, Hankow, Shang- 
hai, Hongkong, and Macao. The ages of the students range 
from five to twenty years. The work is generally of a high 
grade, preparing the students for Cambridge local examinations, 
or college entrance examinations in the United States, England, 
and France. 

When the total number of students receiving education 
at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, at least 150,000, is 
compared with the total number of Christians enrolled, almost 
2,000,000, it is apparent that there is less than one student in 
their schools of all grades, to every ten Christians reported in 
the membership of the church. Protestant missions, on the other 
hand, average over one student in Christian schools to every two 
communicants. 

59. Two factors seriously militate against the educational 
work of this church. The first is lack of funds. Few large 
gifts from home are received for educational purposes. Some 
of the societies are largely dependent upon the income from in- 
vested funds and property for the maintenance of their work in 
China. After the needs of the spiritual work of the church and 
of the foreign working force are met, little remains for the 
secular education of the children. In the second place, the Roman 
Catholic Church in China is seriously handicapped by a small 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 29 

English-teaching force. Most priests and sisters come from con- 
tinental countries, and although familiar with the English lan- 
guage, speak it with some hesitancy. The Chinese naturally 
prefer to secure their education in schools where English is taught 
or is the chief medium of instruction. For this reason the Roman 
Catholic Church has experienced difficulty in attracting and hold- 
ing its young people in its church schools. 



IV. Privately Supported Education — Christian and 
Non-Christian 

60. In the days before 1905, when the government system 
of education was an elaborate scheme of examination, rather than 
of instruction, practically all schools were private. A few at- 
tempts had been made to establish and maintain institutions of 
higher learning at public expense. Notable among these were 
the Tung Wen Kuan in Peking of which Dr. W. A. P. Martin 
was President, the Pei Yang University in Tientsin, and Nan 
Yang University in Shanghai. For the founding of all these, 
government officials had turned to men who were or had been 
Christian missionaries. 

61. When in 1905 the examinations were abolished and the 
government began its great effort to establish schools through- 
out the country, private schools of the old type did not at once 
disappear, nor have they yet done so. Whatever may have been 
true of these schools in an earlier time, most of those that remain 
are furnishing an education but little adapted to modern condi- 
tions. A recent competent observer has said of these schools : 

"Visits to several of them reveal the fact that the teachers are 
underpaid; that the schoolrooms are miserably ventilated; that the teacher 
maintains discipline by force and that he does not study the needs of his 
pupils; that the students dislike study and that many of them have lost 
their sense of self-respect through being constantly repressed. The teacher 
usually has from five to twenty pupils and is paid about 2000 cash, eighty 
cents, per student per month. His hours are from eight in the morning 
till five in the evening with little or no time for rest. Recreation is not 



30 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

permitted and were it allowed the teacher would be unable to lead his 
pupils. The usual type of teacher is a "lao fu tzu" or old scholar who is 
chosen for his knowledge of Chinese characters and history and not because 
he knows anything about modern pedagogy. None of the western subjects 
are taught in this type of school. The teacher and pupils drone over the 
characters and laboriously work out each new idiom; the former because 
of financial necessity, the latter because they are forced to attend by unen- 
lightened parents. It is the duty of the government either to reorganize 
or suppress the old fashioned private school. As it exists to-day it is a 
liability to the nation." 

We have no statistics of the number of schools of this 
type. It is safe to say that there are many thousands of them. It 
should be remembered that it is not easy to make a clear distinction 
between government and private schools. Many of the so-called 
government schools founded in and after 1905 were in reality 
schools supported by a government official and shared his pros- 
perity or adversity. 

62. There is a second class of private schools of a very 
different character, though again no sharp line can be drawn. 
Even before the edicts of 1905, forward-looking Chinese had 
undertaken the founding of schools of a more modern and better 
type than those mentioned above. A notable example is that of 
Mr. Yen Hsu, Vice-minister of Education under the Manchu 
Government, who established in his own house in Tientsin a school 
for boys, and when it outgrew these limits, erected a building for 
it, and opened in the rooms thus vacated a school for girls. It 
was this boys' school which developed into the Nan Kai College 
of Tientsin. The educational revolution of 1905 greatly stimu- 
lated the establishment of private schools of the modern type, and 
they are now to be found in all parts of the country and are of 
various grades. A recent and outstanding example is Amoy Uni- 
versity, founded by a gift from Mr. Tan Ka Kee, which is 
reckoned in millions. 

The total number of private schools is very large, far 
' exceeding the number of mission schools. According to the gov- 
ernment report of 1916, there were 37,303 such schools of which 
36,570 were for boys. These schools had 1,044,824 pupils, 54,425 



PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION 31 

teachers and 31,227 officers. The annual expenditures were 
$3,341,828. Of the total number of schools, 35,156 were lower 
primary schools, 1,897 higher primary, 59 middle schools, 13 nor- 
mal schools, 17 schools of law and politics, 3 of medicine, 9 of 
agriculture (primary), 32 technical, 38 commercial. How many 
of the primary schools were of the old type described above there 
is no means of knowing, but probably all of those above the pri- 
mary grade were more or less modern, and personal observation 
has shown that many of them are well housed and excellently 
conducted. 

A paper recently prepared by a competent authority lists 
seventy schools as notable. 

63. The following figures, though only approximate, show 
with substantial accuracy the extent of the four great groups of 
schools in relation to the population from which they draw. As a 
whole they bear weighty testimony to the interest of the Chinese in 
education and to the tolerance of the government toward non- 
government schools. On the other hand, they clearly forecast 
an influence of the Christian schools and the Christian community 
on Chinese life and thought far exceeding that which would be 
suggested by the relative size of the Christian population. 

Total population of China about 375,000,000 to 400,000,000 

Total Roman Catholic enrollment about 2,000,000 

Total Protestant communicants about 375,000 

Total Protestant community about 1,000,000 

Pupils in Protestant schools about 214,000 

Pupils in Roman Catholic schools about : 50,000 

Pupils in private schools about 1,045,000 

Pupils in government schools about 4,075,000 

Total pupils reported in all schools about 5,475,000 

Christian pupils in Protestant schools about 100,000 

If the total population be counted at 400,000,000 and 
the total Protestant community at 1,000,000, the Protestant com- 
munity, which is one-quarter of one per cent of the total popula- 
tion, is giving three and seven-tenths per cent and receiving one 
and eight-tenths per cent of all the education given. In other 
words it is doing fifteen times its proportionate share of the 



32 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

education of the country and Protestant children are receiving an 
education in the ratio of seven to one, as compared with the 
whole population. Of the total population a little over one and 
one-third per cent is in school. Of the total Protestant popula- 
tion about ten per cent is in Protestant schools. 



PART II 

THE PLACE, PURPOSE, AND SCOPE OF 
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

I. The Aim of the Missionary Enterprise 

64. The history of modern missions shows that there has 
been a constant tendency to enlarge the purpose of the enter- 
prise. The type of effort first emphasized was personal evan- 
gelism, the presentation to individuals of the message of salva^ 
tion and the winning of them to its acceptance. Success in the 
achievement of this purpose speedily led to the organization of 
churches, and to the effort to develop the life of the Christian 
community. Thus to personal evangelism there was added in 
elementary form, but destined to develop more and more, what 
may be termed social evangelization, the application of Chris- 
tianity to the life of a social group. Early and increasingly the 
sympathies of the missionary were appealed to by the misery of 
those by whom he was surrounded. Sickness, famine, ignorance, 
all made their appeal and the missionary, because he was a Chris- 
tian, was impelled to relieve suffering and to seek to better con- 
ditions. Interwoven with the evangelistic motive there was thus 
introduced into the Christian enterprise the philanthropic mo- 
tive, of which hospitals, medical schools, and the diversified work 
of the Christian Associations are outstanding expressions. Closely 
related to the philanthropic motive, but deserving separate men- 
tion, have been the efforts to permeate the non-Christian com- 
munity with Christian ideas either as a preparation for more 
aggressive evangelistic work or as an end desirable in itself. 

33 



34 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

From the fact that the Christian spirit has expressed 
itself in these various ways it has come to pass that the modern 
missionary movement includes within itself various types of work 
which may be characterized as evangelism, by which the Christian 
message is announced and converts are won ; edification, by which 
there is built up a church with competent leadership; philan- 
thropy which seeks to relieve suffering; and the permeation of the 
non-Christian community with Christian ideas. It is unnecessary, 
as it would be impossible, to assign each missionary undertaking 
to one or the other of these types, since the purposes themselves 
are not mutually exclusive but complementary. The Christian 
missionary, confronted by different and often by complex situa- 
tions, has been moved by all these motives, and the purpose of 
the missionary enterprise as it exists to-day is animated by them 
all. That they are all Christian and legitimate missionary mo- 
tives can hardly be questioned. 

II. The Place of Education in the Missionary Enterprise 

65. In the development of the aims which it has sought to 
achieve, missionary education has followed closely along the path 
of the missionary enterprise in general. The earliest schools 
were established as an aid to evangelism. Baffled in his attempts 
to reach the adults, the missionary opened schools as a means of 
bringing the children under the influence of the Christian mes- 
sage. As the Christian community developed, the edification of 
the church and the preparation of preachers and teachers was 
obviously a process of education that called for a further devel- 
opment of schools. For the permeation of the non-Christian 
community with Christian ideas, schools, although not the only 
agency, were yet one of the most effective. Hospitals were the 
outstanding expression of the philanthropic motive, yet as sick- 
ness called for hospitals, so ignorance called for schools, and 
the desire to promote the general welfare of the community by 
the spread of knowledge has been one of the motives that have led 
to the establishment and maintenance of schools. 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 35 

66. This breadth of purpose is not only historically the 
product of the development of the missionary enterprise and of 
missionary education in particular, but, in principle at least, is de- 
manded by the very nature of Christianity and of education. To 
the representative of Christianity who takes up his residence 
in a foreign country under the impulse of the Christian motive, 
nothing that makes for the welfare of the people can be a mat- 
ter of indifference. He who says to the naked and to those hun- 
gry for food or for enlightenment, "Go in peace, be ye warmed 
and fed," yet is not interested to see that they are warmed and 
fed, has not exemplified but denied the Christian spirit. He has 
not represented but misrepresented Christianity. It is because 
the Christian missionary has recognized this fact that he has 
responded to all types of need and has broadened the scope of 
the missionary enterprise. And because education is the only 
remedy for some of the ills with which society is afflicted, and is 
an important factor in practically every department of activity 
which makes either for the spread of the Christian religion or the 
promotion of human welfare, education also has been in purpose 
evangelistic, edificatory, permeative, and philanthropic. 

It must, of course, be recognized that neither the indi- 
vidual missionary nor a group, nor all the missionaries of a given 
society, nor all the Christian forces in a given country, can re- 
spond to every call of human need. But the disposition of the 
missionary to respond to any need of the people in his region is 
a normal expression of the Christian spirit, and no form or type 
of education which the people of a given area need can be ex- 
cluded on principle from the scope of the missionary enterprise 
without its becoming so far unchristian. Strict limitations may 
be imposed either by lack of resources or by the fact that the 
need is adequately met by some other agency. But it is essential 
to the maintenance of the Christian point of view that it be rec- 
ognized that whatever pertains to human welfare and is achievable 
through education is in principle within the scope of missionary 
education. 

67. This point of view is not modified, except to receive 



36 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

new emphasis., when for the term missionary we substitute the 
word Christian. Most of the Christian schools in China were 
\ founded by missionaries, and most of those above the elementary 
grade are still largely supported by missionary organizations, but 
this, we hope and believe, is only a temporary state of affairs. 
Already Chinese are taking a larger share in the management of 
the Christian schools. As the Chinese church develops, Chinese 
participation in the direction of Christian education should con- 
stantly increase, the missionary retiring from the position of di- 
rector to that of adviser and helper, and eventually withdrawing 
altogether, leaving behind a strong Chinese Christian community 
able to direct and support its own educational work. While the 
responsibility of the missionary might conceivably be limited to 
certain types of work especially related to the direct building up 
of the Christian community, such a self-directing and self-sup- 
porting Christian community could scarcely be Christian, if it 
were indififerent to any phase of the welfare of the people. A 
Christian church which turned its whole activity in education 
back upon itself would be in grave danger of becoming unchris- 
tian in spirit. 



III. The Pcruianence of Christian Education in China 

68. If then Christian education has been a necessary and 
legitimate part of the missionary enterprise, what are the pros- 

,pects of its permanence? Missions, if they are successful, will 
eventually cease, having • made themselves unnecessary by their 
success. Will the same be true of the Christian schools which 
they have founded? Or, by the side of the extensive system of 
schools which the nation as such will develop, will there be a 
permanent place for that system of private education which the 
missionary forces are now developing with the cooperation of the 
Chinese, but which will eventually pass into the hands of the 
Chinese Christians? 

69. The experience of other countries indicates that a con- 
siderable number of schools supplementary to those supported 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 37 

from public funds and controlled by government officials is de- 
sirable. Although the whole task of education is manifestly too 
heavy a burden for private initiative, yet as a supplement to schools 
managed by the government, schools established by private en- 
terprise have a distinct place. They furnish opportunity for in- 
dividual initiative and experiment and prevent the undue stereo- 
typing of education. They give opportunity for the exertion of 
a more positive religious influence than is possible in publicly 
supported schools. The Japanese government, which, since the 
restoration in 1868, has made extraordinary progress in devel- 
oping its schools, has been rather inhospitable to the develop- 
ment of those privately supported. Yet, if we are correctly in- 
formed, Japan has in recent years taken a much more favorable 
attitude toward such institutions, removing disabilities under 
which they formerly labored, and encouraging their further de- 
velopment. 

70. The history of the Chinese people makes it improbable 
that they will permanently, if at all, oppose the maintenance of 
non-government schools. To the demand that all schools shall 
meet certain educational standards there can be no legitimate ob- 
jection. The government is clearly within its rights in setting 
up such standards. There may be for a time a disposition to 
condition registration on the discontinuance of certain phases of 
religious education, and registration might be too dearly pur- 
chased at this price. But it is not in accordance with the historic 
spirit of the Chinese people to control education to the extent of 
forbidding private schools. Until a recent period all schools were 
private, and private schools, old and new, are still numbered by 
the thousands. (Cf. Sections 60-63.) The policy of depending on 
private initiative is, of course, abandoned once for all, but it is 
unlikely that in developing a government system of education 
the Chinese will swing so far to the other extreme as to prohibit 
all private schools. This is especially unlikely to occur with 
respect to the Christian schools if they are thoroughly good 
schools, patriotic and national in atmosphere and influence, avoid- 
ing all exotic and foreign characteristics, promptly and fully meet- 



38 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ing all government requirements and cooperating with govern- 
ment education in all practicable ways, and at the same time fur- 
nishing a healthy variant from the uniform standard, and pro- 
ducing for the changing life of China a Christian group, forward- 
looking and thoughtful, disciplined and self-controlled. In build- 
ing up in China Christian education of this type we may be as- 
sured that we are building for a long future. 

71. China needs the influence of Christianity to assist her 
in ridding herself of certain elements of traditional national hfe 
and certain modes of thought which, whatever their effect in past 
ages, are now a hindrance to her progress, and which, therefore, 
it is desirable for China's sake to modify. 

We must not forget that although "China no longer leads 
the world, she has in forgotten days led mankind in ethics, edu- 
cation, culture, invention, and art, and that China is not only 
entitled to, but is really worthy of the unfeigned respect of the 
world." There are many admirable qualities of the Chinese peo- 
ple which the invasion of western ideas threatens to destroy. 
Against such destruction the Christian movement ought to set 
itself with all firmness. It is with justifiable pride in his own 
people that Alfred Sze says : 

"Fortunately for the peace and security of the world the peaceful 
development of China and her millions is an absolute certainty unless, 
indeed, that development is deflected by foreign agency into channels of 
militarism. The Chinese development of China, if I may put it that way, 
must make for peace if only because the whole of Chinese culture rests 
on the power and appeal of moral force. The entire body of Confucian 
teaching centres around that conception. We hold material force so meanly 
that the soldier is the lowest member in our social hierarchy and this 
Chinese valuation of the fighting man will remain unchanged as long as 
the Chinese people are allowed to progress along the lines of their owti 
national characteristics." 

Trust in the power of right rather than in might and 
force, the general acceptance of reason and fair dealing as stand- 
ards of action, belief in the value of education to the nation's 
well being and in moral education as of supreme worth, the 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 39 

habitual contentment which shows itself in cheerfulness and pa- 
tience under difficulties, the courtesy and gentleness which char- 
acterize most of the Chinese both of higher and lower classes, 
the modesty of women, the respect for the aged and the learned, 
the sense of obligation to care for relatives even several degrees 
removed, the cherishing of the memory of ancestors, the hereditary 
good taste in art and architecture, are all of them valuable assets 
of the Chinese people, of which no movement originating in the 
West ought to be permitted to rob them. Even more fundamental 
is the recognition by the Chinese of a moral order pervading 
the universe, inflexibly and unerringly just, as well as benevolent. 
72. On the other hand there are serious elements of their 
social inheritance which are distinctly harmful and are an obstacle 
to their taking the place which they might otherwise take in the 
[family of nations. 

I Among these elements is the tendency to look backward 

I rather than forward, to put reverence for the dead above the in- 
terests of the living and the yet unborn, to adhere to traditional 
i opinions, and to ask what the sages said rather than what the facts 
I are and to what conclusion they lead. It may be freely admitted 
and contended that there is something beautiful and admirable in 
China's reverence for the past. Yet if Benjamin Kidd is right in 
his contention that the future of the world belongs to those nations 
that are characterized by their forward look, and are willing to 
sacrifice their present not to the past but to the future, it follows 
that China's highest welfare demands a change in these respects. 
Other elements of China's mental and social inheritance 
which hinder her progress are the limited scope of social interest ; 
the restriction of concern to the family, clan, or province, rather 
than its extension to the nation; the lack of a broad-horizoned 
public spirit, and of unselfish patriotism on the part of the ruling 
class ; a tendency to use public office for private gain and to regard 
this practice as normal; the prevalence among the people of super- 
stition and belief in demons ; the lack of religious basis for ethical 
thinking; the agnostic attitude of Confucius on the fundamental 
questions of religion and the construction of his ethics on a purely 



40 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

humanitarian basis; all these still exercise a powerful and on the 
whole an unhappy influence on ethical thought and moral life. In 
interesting i elation to this influence of Confucius' agnosticism is 
the tendency to deify him, making him not only the expounder of 
ethics, but the object of worship as divine. 

There are certain defects of family life due to the living! 
of three or four generations in the same house, to polygamy, whichi 
is still practised, to illiteracy, which is widely prevalent, and to the^ 
inferior ])lace which is assigned to woman. There are undoubtedly 
many instances of beautiful family life in China. But it is the 
testimony of the Chinese theinselves that family life as a whole 
greatly needs the influence of the Christian ideals. 

73. A Christian education having its beginning in a mission- 
ary movement coming from the West, will naturally bring with it 
certain elements and characteristics of western Christian education, 
which are especially adapted to meet the needs of China and to con- 
tribute to her welfare. 

As we recognize that there are certain elements of the 
national life of China which need to be corrected, so we hasten 
to confess that it is wholly fallacious to assume that everything 
western or all that is useful in the West will be a useful importa- 
tion into China. On the contrary we must distinctly recognize that 
there is a rather long list of elements of western civilization as 
found in so-called Christian lands that it would be distinctly harm- 
ful to reproduce in China. In this class we must include the natu- 
lal arrogance of the Anglo-Saxon in his attitude toward other 
nationalities, and the rudeness with which he often treats those 
whom he considers his inferiors ; the militaristic spirit, and the dis- 
position quickly to resort to force for the settlement of difficulties ; 
the extravagance and luxury of the well-to-do classes and the 
disposition of those of moderate means to consume .their earnings 
on things that do not really contribute to their highest welfare; 
the western industrial system, which is based on competition 
rather than cooperation, subordinating human interests to the 
economic machine, and sacrificing persons to profits; sectarian 
ecclesiasticism and the perpetuation of divisions created for reasons 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 41 

which long ago ceased to be in force; immodesty in dress and 
amusements ; slowness to recognize the full value of the contribu- 
tion which women make to the common welfare, and to grant them 
their full share in the development and conduct of community and 
national Hfe. 

74. Yet while we confess with shame these sins of western 
and nominally Christian civilization, we must also recognize with 
gratitude to God that our inheritance includes certain elements, 
partly of distinctively Christian origin, partly rather western than 
Christian in origin, which it would be a kindness to China to trans- 
plant into the soil of her national life. Among these we would 
name : 

a. Physical (including biological) science, so taught as 
to create a reverence for the authority of facts rather than of 
ancient and traditional opinions, and an ability to discover truth 
by interpretation of facts. Physical science will correct China's 
traditionalism and furnish her a great instrument for the enrich- 
ment of her life. 

b. Applied science, including medicine, social science, 
engineering. In this there is not only a valuable agency for the 
conservation of health and the improvement of physical conditions, 
but a great stimulus to the intellectual life and the development of 
public spirit. 

c. Historical and social science. Rightly taught this will 
not only produce the results mentioned above as resulting from 
the study of physical science, but will furnish the knowledge and 
discernment necessary for the development of a higher type of 
social and political life, a nobler citizenship, and a more vmselfish 
and efficient statesmanship. It is scarcely possible to state too 
strongly the benefits that may come to China from the study of 
science in its varied aspects and the acquisition of the scientific 
spirit. This acquisition will affect favorably every phase of 
Chinese life. 

d. The application of the Christian principle to indus- 
trial and commercial life. What is needed here is not the pro- 
mulgation of western business methods, which are themselves far 



42 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

from being thoroughly Christianized, but a fresh statement of 
Christian ethics as appHed to the conditions existing and develop- 
ing in China, with an effort to train men for the successful man- 
agement of business enterprises on Christian principles. 

e. The value of the physical aspects of life, cleanliness, 
health, bodily vigor, not only as adding to the joy of life, but as fur- 
nishing the basis for the vigorous and successful prosecution of 
great enterprises. 

f . The physical and moral values of play and wholesome 
recreation and their place in the life of young and old. 

g. The value of the human personality as such, especially 
of the child unable to fight his own battle, but entitled to a normal 
childhood both for its own sake and as the basis for a normal 
youth and manhood and womanhood. 

h. The paramount importance of normal family life, 
dominated by mutual affection and the consideration of all for the 
welfare of all. 

i. The investigative attitude of mind with respect to the 
whole task of education, the recognition of the fact that the ideal 
educational method has not yet been discovered in China, in Eu- 
rope, or in America, and that its discovery must come about 
through a process of experimentation and adaptation to the con- 
ditons and needs of the country in which the education is to be 
carried on. 

j. An emphasis on the supreme significance in the pro- 
cess of education of the development of character and the produc- 
tion of worthy and efficient members of society, together with a 
recognition of the inadequacy of ethical maxims dissociated from 
religious faith to create the ideal person or community and of the 
consequent necessity of religion as the dynamic factor in the life 
of the individual and the community. 

75. It is then of the very essence of the Christian principle 
that we should seek to reproduce in China, not all the elements of 
western civilization, or all that are traditionally associated with 
historical Christianity, but only those which will constitute a valu- 
able contribution to the life of the Chinese. Because we are con- 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 43 

vincecl that Christianity has a vital contribution to make to China's 
welfare, preeminently those religious and moral principles which 
are most central in it, we wish to give it to China. Education 
has been shown by experience to be one of the most efficient 
agencies for the expression and impartation of those principles. It 
follows, therefore, that at least until these valuable elements of 
Christian civilization have become thoroughly rooted in Chinese 
life, Christian education, in the sense in which we have already 
defined it, will be needed as an agency through which the Christian 
community will perpetuate and strengthen its own life and make its 
contribution to the highest welfare of the Chinese people. In 
planning therefore for a system of Christian education, the Chris- 
tian forces of China, both Chinese and foreign, are not building up 
a structure that will probably soon be superfluous, but one which 
will, so far as can now be foreseen, be of permanent value. It is 
indeed not unthinkable that there should come a time when the 
Christian church can make its contribution to the life of China 
more efifectively than through the maintenance of separate schools. 
But that time cannot now be foreseen. 

yd. Yet in making this affirmation of the probable perma- 
nence of a system of Christian education, it must be distinctly 
recognized that the part for which the Christian forces become 
responsible is but a small portion of the whole educational task, 
and that the affirmation of probable permanence applies to the 
system, not to each particular part of it as it now exists. 

When one considers the extent of China and its vast 
population, and when one remembers the large number of schools 
of many types which would be necessary to meet the educational 
needs of the whole people, and on the other hand reflects upon the 
small proportion of the population that is Christian and the limited 
resources of the Christian community and of the missionary 
bodies, it is at once evident that the combined Christian forces can 
do but a small fraction of the total educational work that China 
needs to have done. 

And on the other hand, when we observe that, although 
the new education conducted by the government has all been 



44 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

developed since 1900, yet the pupils in government schools out- | 
number those in Christian schools in the ratio of 20 to i, and 
when we take into account the earnestness, intelligence, and vigor 
with which government educators are pressing forward in the 
further development of the government system, it becomes evident 
that whatever the resources of the Christian forces might be, they 
would have no obligation and no opportunity to fill any large part 
proportionately of the educational field. 

Moreover, a particular piece of educational work which 
the Christian forces may and ought to undertake to-day, they may 
perhaps with equal propriety discontinue when the government 
has more fully developed its system of schools. The educational 
task for the accomplishment of which we believe the Christian 
forces will always be responsible, however large in itself, is small 
in proportion to that of the nation as a whole. Since we can not 
forecast the future it is always subject to re-definition, both as 
respects its scope and its extent. 

The affirmation of permanence must be made not of mis- 
sionary education, which involves the presence of the foreigner 
and at least partial foreign support, but distinctly of Christian 
education, which is developed in view and expectation of the time 
when the foreigner will withdraw and leave all Christian schools 
to be directed and supported by a Chinese Christian community 
fully able to undertake this work for itself. 

IV. The Specific and Immediate Task of Christian Education 

77. If then the limitation of the resources of the Christian 
forces and the responsibility and the large resources of the govern- 
ment involve obvious limitations of the educational field which the 
Christian forces can occupy ; and if the Christian system is being 
developed with a view to its future control and support by the 
Chinese church, precisely what is the task which these forces 
should undertake? For what classes of the community may Chris- 
tian education properly be conducted and what is the specific end 
which it should seek to achieve with respect to them ? 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 45 

yS. As we have studied the work of Christian schools in 
China, they have suggested to us four answers to this question. A 
Christian education may be conducted : 

a. Solely for Christians and for the children of Chris- 
tian parents, with the purpose of training them for life and pro- 
viding the church with a working staff. 

b. Chiefly for non-Christians, for the purpose of winning 
them to Christianity and making them serviceable members of the 
Christian community. 

c. Chiefly for non-Christians, not primarily, however, 
with a view to their conversion but to their larger equipment for 
life and the gradual permeation of the non-Christian community 
with Christian ideas. 

d. For both Christians and non-Christians, with a view 
to the development of a strong Christian community, a purpose 
which includes an increase in its numbers, but especially an im- 
provement in the quality of its life and the development of its 
influence and effectiveness. 

79. Let it be clearly recognized that the acceptance of any 
one of these definitions would not contravene the assertion made 
above that Christian education to be true to itself must recognize 
that, in principle, any kind of education useful to China is within 
the possible scope of Christian education. Consistently with 
this principle any one of the four definitions of scope and purpose 
may be adopted as defining the field in which Christian education 
may most effectively work in order to make its largest contribution 
to the well-being of the Chinese people. 

Let it also be observed respecting all four definitions, but 
especially respecting the fourth, that the purpose as stated is not 
that of a single school, but of Christian education as a whole. 
The acceptance of the fourth definition would itself call for a co- 
ordinated system of schools, since no one school alone could 
achieve the proposed result and even many uncoordinated schools 
could, so to speak, achieve it only by accident. Each school in 
such a system would of necessity have a specific purpose con- 
tributory to the comprehensive end. In accordance with this 



46 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

specific purpose and consistently with its place in the system it 
might be limited to a particular class of the community, as for 
example, a theological seminary might be limited to Christians 
who had already completed a certain course of study. On the 
other hand certain features would, if this ideal be adopted, be 
constant elements in all the schools. 

80. Criticism of the first three policies 

a. The first policy as applied to a single school, and 
still more to the whole body, of Christian schools, tends to un- 
healthy inbreeding. Isolating the Christian youth from their non- 
Christian fellows in the formative period of their lives deprives 
them of the normal opportunity for Christian activity and tends 
to diminish their effectiveness as Christians. 

b. The second policy, making no adequate provision for 
the education of the youth of the Christian community, either 
ignores the greatest source of power within reach of the church, 
or requires supplementing by a second system of schools. It 
might conceivably express a legitimate purpose of some schools, 
but not of Christian education as a whole. Even if the first and 
second policies be combined, some schools being conducted on 
one plan and some on the other, the result would be an unhealthy 
separation of things that are better united. 

c. The third policy is open to the serious objection of 
making no provision for the development of a self-propagating 
and self-perpetuating Chinese Christianity. It lays upon a for- 
eign system of Christianity the impossible task of transforming 
the moral life of China from without and this, too, without mak- 
ing it vitally Christian. Under some circumstances a given 
school might be conducted with such an aim. As a general pol- 
icy for Christian education in China it is quite inadequate. 

81. Reasons for the fourth policy 

a. It provides the most effective method of achieving 
all the ends contemplated in all the other plans. Thus, it opens 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 47 

the possibility, to say the least, by not restricting the Christian 
schools to Christian children, of educating them in an atmos- 
phere more calculated to make strong personalities and sturdy 
Christians. 

b. It clearly differentiates the task of Christian educa- 
tion from that of government and other non-Christian schools, 
while also making itself contributory to the legitimate aims of 
such education. 

c. It permits all necessary or desirable differentiation 
between schools in accordance with their specific purposes, but 
enables each to make its contribution to the total result. 

d. It aims at the creation of a moral and religious force, 
personal and social, which is itself Chinese and an integral part 
of Chinese life, a force which can affect that life as no foreign 
agency or institution can. It thus recognizes the vital and uni- 
versal character of the Christian religion. 

e. It looks to and prepares for the ultimate withdrawal 
of the foreign missionary forces, leaving to a Chinese Christian 
church the completion of the task which the foreign missionary 
has begun. 

f. It proposes to the Christian forces at work in China 
an ideal large enough and high enough to call for enthusiastic co- 
operation, yet one that is not beyond the limits of the possible. 
Recent history especially in Japan and Germany has shown that 
the point of view, the ideal and the mode of thought of a people 
can be profoundly changed in one or two generations, and that 
the process by which they are so changed is education, largely 
the education of the youth in the schools. Intelligent and per- 
sistent pursuit of a goal clearly defined, may in half a century 
result in the creation within China of an influential community 
representing the highest ideals of personal, social and national 
life, a Christian democracy within the larger democracy of the 
nation, not foreign to the larger unit but a loyal and integral 
part of it. 

82. Although all these reasons may properly be urged for 
! the adoption of the specific and immediate goal of Christian edu- 



48 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

cation, that is, the development of a strong Christian community, 
and are in the judgment of the Commission decisive considerations 
for such adoption, yet this adoption should never be permitted 
to obscure the larger view previously set forth in this report 
which recognizes that every useful kind of education is on prin- 
ciple includible within the scope of Christian education, and that 
there may arise situations when the higher principle will set aside 
the lower. 

Since it is of the essence of the Christian spirit to desire 
to do good to all men as we have opportunity, and since it is also 
essential to the proper development of the Christian community 
that it possess and express in conduct the spirit of Christian 
service — the impulse to benefit their fellow men without too care- 
ful calculation of the reflex benefit to the church itself — Christian 
education must not too strictly confine itself to measures which 
are directed solely toward the development of the Christian com- 
munity. To be true to itself it must be sensitive to human need 
as such and responsive to its call. For this reason Christian 
schools must in general be open to Christians and non-Christians 
without distinction, and, so far as resources permit, schools whose 
distinctive purpose is philanthropic should be included in the 
scheme of Christian education. It is especially desirable that the 
Chinese Christians should themselves develop such schools as an 
expression of their Christian life. 

8t,. Holding the balance between these two courses will not 
always be easy. But it will be a great gain if the Christian forces 
can recognize that their primary and immediate task is the build- 
ing up of a Christian community possessing all the qualities that 
will enable it to become a force that will ultimately make China a 
Christian nation. Although they may not hold themselves with 
absolute rigor within the limits of this task, they will gain in 
power and ultimate effectiveness if they depart from it only when 
it is clear that they must do so to be true to their fundamental 
Christian character. 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 49 



V. The Scope of Christian Education 

84. The extent of the educational work which the Christian 
forces ought to undertake cannot be determined on an a priori 
basis. It is a question of expediency in the nobler sense of that 
term. Account must be taken of the available resources, human 
and financial, the educational facilities provided by the govern- 
ment and the extent to which the particular type of education is 
essential to the Christian enterprise. 

85. The purpose of Christian education requires that it 
shall include all the types of education which are necessary for 
the development of a normal Christian community, except such 
as are adequately provided for by other agencies. Nor must the 
boundary line be so strictly drawn as to exclude educational ef- 
forts which are the normal expression of the spirit of Christian 
philanthropy. 

86. On the other hand the principle of economy and the 
limited resources for Christian education demand that there be 
left to the government and individuals all those enterprises which 
they can adequately undertake. 

87. Economy and the Christian spirit of cooperation re- 
quire that the Christian forces shall seek wherever possible to co- 
operate with the government. This cooperation may take several 
different forms. There may be instances in which the Chris- 
tian forces enter into partnership with the government in the con- 
duct of a school, each contributing that which it is best able to 
contribute, and perhaps sharing the expense. Such cooperation 
already exists in at least one case, and we are recommending tliat 
it be put into efifect, if found practicable, in another instance, 
where the Christian forces and the government are conducting 
special schools in the same subject side by side. 

In many more cases it is practicable for the Christian 
forces to exert a moral and religious influence on the students 
of a government school, the authorities of the school encourag- 
ing or at least not objecting to the undertaking of such work. 



50 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

This type of cooperation has been developed by the Young Men's 
Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian As- 
sociation, and is to be strongly commended. 

When the essential aims of Christian education can be 
achieved in either of these ways it is not expedient for the Chris- 
tian schools to attempt to duplicate the work of the government 
or to compete with it. There may be whole departments of edu- 
cation which can best be dealt with in this way. We raise the 
question whether this is not true of engineering and applied sci- 
ence in general. 

88. A third type of cooperation is illustrated in the Train- 
ing School for Physical Directors conducted in Shanghai by the 
Young Women's Christian Association. A large proportion of 
the young women trained in this school become physical directors 
in government schools. The Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciation is thus cooperating in government education at a point at 
which its development is distinctly for the benefit of the woman- 
hood of China. In many cases the graduates of this school are 
the principal Christian influence in the government school. 

89. The question whether cooperation between Christian 
schools and the government may take the form of a government 
grant toward the support of a Christian school is one on which 
there is wide difference of opinion among Christian educators. It 
deserves careful study in view of present conditions in China and 
probable tendencies. What is certain is, on the one hand, that a 
school which accepts such aid should loyally render the service in 
consideration of which the aid is granted and, on the other, should 
not accept money from any source, government or private, under 
conditions which will, by stipulation or implication, abridge the 
liberty of the school to offer religious, ethical, or social instruction, 
or control the character of this teaching. 

90. What the Christian forces ought to undertake in the 
field of education must be determined from time to time on the 
basis of existing conditions. With a change of conditions the de- 
cision may be reversed. Such changes of decision are much less 
likely to occur in matters that pertain to the heart of the Christian 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 51 

movement, theology and social science for example, than in those 
that lie on its outskirts, such as engineering and architecture, 

91. The studies which the Commission has made have con- 
vinced it that under existing conditions and probably for some 
time to come the Christian forces must conduct all grades (not 
necessarily all specific types) of education from the lowest to the 
highest, including the education of adults. It is essential to the 
creation of a strong Christian community that the development of 
character be a matter of first concern from the elementary school 
up to the point where education gives to the church its leader and 
minister. No other agency than the Christian school can at present 
be depended on to do this. Sunday schools may supplement the 
educational work of the public school, and Christian Associations 
may bring religious influence to bear upon students in non-Christian 
schools and colleges with excellent results. But they cannot under 
existing conditions meet the whole situation, or make the Christian 
school of any grade unnecessary. 

The time may come when a plan of much closer coopera- 
ation than is now possible may be worked out under which the 
government will perhaps conduct the elementary schools and the 
Christian forces will supplement its work by adequate religious 
and moral training. There may be regions where this will soon 
be possible. But the church can never ignore the necessity for 
the religious element in education, and cannot now at least dis- 
pense with Christian elementary schools. 

92. What may be called the backbone of the Christian com- 
munity will come mainly neither from the elementary schools nor 
from the university, but from the middle schools. Pupils who do 
not reach this level of education will scarcely be prepared to be lay 
leaders. If they go beyond the middle school they will for the 
present at least largely join the professional classes. The strength 
of the church will come from the middle school. The leaders of 
the church at large, its educators and moulders of public opinion, 
will come from the higher institutions, but must of necessity pass 
through the middle school. The qualified teachers of elementary 
schools will also come from schools of this grade. It is evident 



52 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

therefore that the maintenance of the right kind and number of 
these schools is the center of the educational problem. It is 
probable that no part of the whole task has received so little atten- 
tion in proportion to its importance. 

93. Under existing conditions Christian schools must under- 
take to provide occupational and professional education in several 
diflferent lines. A normal Christian community, effective in its 
influence on national life, must include parents with Christian 
ideals of home life, preachers able to utter the Christian message 
clearly and persuasively, teachers of all grades, physicians, journal- 
ists, writers, orators, statesmen, social workers, leaders in com- 
mercial and industrial life. In each of these classes, moreover, 
it is necessary that efficiency in the. specific occupation shall be 
intimately associated with Christian thinking and purpose. Not the 
man whose business and religion are carefully segregated in sep- 
arate compartments of mind and action, but one who carries his 
Christian principles into his business, and his business efficiency 
into his religion, is what the new China needs. The achievement 
of this result on any large scale requires schools which combine 
educational efficiency with the most intelligent consideration for 
the development of character and the relating of religion to life. 

94. A necessary complement to the offering of occupational 
education is the provision for vocational guidance. Every school, 
especially every middle school, should provide the students com- 
petent and sympathetic advice as to the occupations in which they 
can be of largest service, and as to the character and length of 
the course of education which they should pursue. Education to 
capacity should be the basis of all individual advice. Every student 
should have the education that will make him a larger personality 
and a more useful member of society. 

95. Even more fundamental than vocational guidance is the 
maintenance of the sympathetic attitude toward all the perplexities 
and difficulties of the student, both intellectual and practical. In no 
way can the teacher more effectually express his Christianity than 
in a sympathetic dealing with the perplexed student. But a neces- 
sary complement of this sympathy on the part of the teacher is the 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 53 

sense of intellectual freedom on his own part. He whose own mind 
is fettered can not sympathetically emancipate another. Within 
the limits of Christianity broadly interpreted it is essential that the 
teachers in Christian schools, both lower and higher, shall be cor- 
dially assured of their right and duty to investigate, discover, and 
think. 

96. It must be recognized that schools of agriculture, for- 
estry, engineering, and applied science, constitute a somewhat 
dififerent class from those of theology, education, and literature, 
not because they deal with material things in a way in which those 
of the latter group do not, but because Christian principles enter 
less vitally into the educational process in the one case than in the 
other. It is therefore less necessary that schools of engineering, 
for example, be conducted by the Christian forces than schools 
of theology. It is desirable that there be Christian men in all 
legitimate occupations, but there is not a Christian science of 
metallurgy in the same sense in which there may be a Christian 
literature or a Christian industrialism. Yet the whole subject is 
not one to be dismissed lightly. If it be remembered how large 
a part of the population of China is rural, how largely the devel- 
opment of rural life will affect that of the Christian community, 
how significant results, moral as well as economic, have already 
been achieved in the United States by schools of the Hampton 
type, it will be evident that careful consideration must be given 
to the whole problem of the place of education for industrial 
occupations in a Christian system. Such consideration is given in 
Part HI., Chapters VII., VIII., IX, X. 

97. The Christian forces cannot attempt the whole task of 
education in China, or even respond to every demand which is 
based on a real need. In practice they are compelled to choose 
between doing many things poorly and doing a few things well. 
It is always difficult for a missionary educator who is truly Chris- 
tian in his spirit to refuse to respond to the call of human need, 
especially to decline to provide schools for Christian pupils or 
those who may become Christian. Our study has, however, con- 
vinced us that for the sake both of the Chinese Christian commu- 



54 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

nity, which must eventually take over the whole task of Christian 
education, and of China in general, quality must be preferred to 
quantity. There may have been a time when poor schools were 
the best that could be provided and served a useful purpose. But 
under present conditions one good school is worth more than many 
poor ones. The aim should be to make every school a pattern 
worthy of imitation, both by Christians elsewhere and by the non- 
Christian educators. Schools that cannot maintain this superior 
quality should be abandoned, and no new enterprise should be 
launched that does not have reasonable hope of maintaining a high 
standard. 

98. The question of how many schools can be conducted 
must be worked out separately for each region and for the whole 
country in respect to each type and grade of school. Under the 
improved conditions of travel it is better, for example, to have a 
good medical school in one area, than poor ones with inadequate 
staff and indifferent equipment in two or three areas. On the other 
hand, the requirements of any area are largely fixed by the stage 
of development at which the Christian movement in that area has 
arrived. What is imperatively needed in one region may be be- 
yond the needs of another. The ideal must be quality and efficiency 
in every area which is entered, but efficiency measured in terms 
of that area. 

99. With a view to accomplishing the largest possible re- 
sults with the resources available, general rules should be worked 
out showing the relative number of pupils for whom provision 
should be made in the schools of different grades, and in schools 
for girls and boys respectively. As in the work already done in 
this field by the China Christian Educational Association the ratios 
suggested should be based on reasonable expectations of the num- 
ber of pupils who will pass from each grade or school to the higher. 
Account should also be taken of the conditions in respect to which 
different regions vary. The results should be used as a general 
guide to the number of schools to be maintained. 

100. An Institute of Educational Research. The fact that for 
several classes of schools there has as yet been developed no 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 55 

satisfactory method of education adapted to China, and especially 
to the development of a strong Christian community, makes it 
necessary that in the prosecution of these lines of educational 
work there shall be a considerable element of experimentation and 
research. Moreover, the whole system of education requires to be 
unified and the results of research coordinated. In the field of 
elementary and secondary education there are most important 
questions concerning the objectives and methods of education 
which call, in the judgment of the Commission, for the develop- 
ment of an Institute of Educational Research under Christian con- 
trol. The primary purpose of this institution will not be the edu- 
cation of teachers or the training of administrators, but the dis- 
covery of educational method in the broad sense of the term. This 
Institute would, for example, help to solve such problems as the 
value of physical labor in the development of character, and the 
extent to which and the method by which it ought to be made an 
integral part of a Christian system of elementary education. It will 
call for men and women of the highest order of ability. It will 
take time to develop. It should work in close cooperation with 
schools of all types and in various regions. See the fuller discus- 
sion of this matter in Sections 251-258. 

VI. The Organisation of Christian Education 

loi. The breadth and the character of the task of Christian 
education call for the cooperation of all the Christian forces of all 
nationalities and denominations, and the ultimate fusion of all 
present and future work into a consistent educational system for 
China as a whole. It is almost axiomatic that the creation of a 
strong and able Christian community is one task and should be 
viewed and undertaken as such by the Christian forces as a unit. 
This does not mean the merging of missionary societies at work 
in China, nor the control of all the Boards by a super-board, nor 
the abolition of denominations in China. It means intelligent 
cooperation for the achievement of a task too large for any single 
agency. 



56 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

102. Such cooperation calls for organization, and organiza- 
tion upon a well thought-out plan. Much thought has been given 
to this matter for A^ears by those who have been engaged in educa- 
tional work in China, and by those who have had a responsibility 
for the creation of public opinion and the general direction of the 
work of the Christian church, and much progress has been made. 
In expressing its own conviction, arrived at after many confer- 
ences and much discussion, that the time is now ripe for further 
progress in the same direction, the Commission is but endorsing 
the opinion of educators and administrators all over China. The 
task which the Christian forces of China face is one. It ought to 
be conceived as one, not only as is now largely the case, by the 
leaders of thought and action, but by all who are engaged in any 
part of it. What is true of the whole Christian enterprise is pre- 
eminently true of that large part of it which falls under the head 
of education. But if this be true, it follows of necessity that each 
school should fill its place in the whole complex of educational 
forces with the least possible duplication of effort and that there 
should be the fewest possible gaps. We regret to say that we have 
found many instances of men and women, earnest, devoted, and 
self-sacrificing, who are losing a large part of the joy of their 
work and whose work itself is robbed of much of its efficiency, 
by the failure to apprehend the purpose and goal of the whole 
task, and the relation of their own special work to that task. The 
time has come when the whole Christian community, Chinese and 
foreign, should face this task, and intelligently direct its united 
energies to its achievement. This demands education of the whole 
community in reference to the task and organization. 

103. Foregoing any extended statement of reasons in the 
conviction that these will be self evident, the Commission desires 
to commend to workers on the field and administrators in Europe 
and America, the following series of general propositions which 
represent its own convictions. 

104. The plans for the future development of Christian edu- 
cational work should be participated in by, and should include the 
educational work of : 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 57 

a. All tiie Protestant Foreign Mission Boards and soci- 
eties operating in China, whether their home base is Europe, 
America, or Australia. It is especially important that there be a 
perfect understanding and close cooperation between the British 
and American societies, since the large part of the work is sup- 
ported by them. 

b. The Chinese church, and individual Chinese who are 
either members of the church or in sympathy with its purpose, 

c. The Young Men's Christian Association and the 
Young Women's Christian Association, which, belonging originally 
in the class of foreign mission societies, have already become to 
a large extent organizations of Chinese. From the point of view 
either of their origin or of their present status, but especially be- 
cause of the latter, they should be included in the general plan 
for Christian education. 

105. Not only in their general attitude and in the ways men- 
tioned in Section 87, but specifically in the organization of their 
work, the Christian educational forces should seek the utmost 
possible cooperation with government education. In particular, 
in the classification of their schools and in the division of the total 
curriculum, the government plan should be followed to the utmost 
extent consistent with efficiency and the achievement of the specific 
aims of the Christian school. Religious freedom and a measure at 
least of liberty of experimentation must be conserved. But it 
must not be forgotten that conformity to the government scheme 
in matters which are not vital is itself an asset and contributes 
to effectiveness. In conformity with this principle, the Commission 
is basing its recommendations upon the system recently recom- 
mended by the China Associated Educational Associations as the 
standard classification for government education. This provides 
for a six-year primary school, a six-year middle school and a 
four-year college. 

106. The governing principle of the unified system of Chris- 
tian education must be voluntary cooperation. There is no over- 
head power which can legislate for all and compel obedience. Yet, 
acting voluntarily, each missionary organization and Chinese 



58 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

church body may enter into cooperative agreements by which they 
will thereafter loyally abide. The union will then be, not a rope 
of sand, but an effective cooperative organization. 

107. For the lower education, elementary and secondary, the 
territorial unit of cooperation should be the province or a small 
group of provinces. The cooperative organization may be called 
"The Board of Christian Education." It should be composed of 
elected representatives of all the missionary societies doing lower 
educational work in its area and of the Chinese Christian ecclesi- 
astical bodies. It should be adequately financed, have large power 
delegated to it by the missions and ecclesiastical bodies, and should 
have the services of at least two full-time executives. 

108. The functions of the Board should include: 

a. The securing of minimum essentials in school build- 
ings and equipment, in curriculum, in qualifications of teachers, in 
methods and results of teaching ; 

b. The regular supervision of schools, and provision for 
the training in service of the teachers ; 

c. Continuous study of the problems of the schools and 
means for getting the results to the teacher ; 

d. Some adequate method of testing the results of 
teaching. 

109. Within the province and for the purposes of super- 
vision there should be districts. These districts may be organ- 
ized on territorial or ecclesiastical lines, but preferably on terri- 
torial lines when these are practicable. 

no. The existing Provincial Educational Associations should 
take the lead in bringing about the creation of the above-named 
Christian Boards of Education. Being voluntary organizations of 
persons, they cannot themselves discharge the functions of a body 
officially representing missionary and ecclesiastical bodies. The 
Educational Associations should continue to hold their annual 
meetings, preferably at the same time as those of the Provincial 
Boards of Education, for purposes of conference and discussion 
of local educational problems. 

III. For the coordination of the higher educational work 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 59 

there should be six higher educational areas, North China, East 
China, Central China, South China, West China, and Fukien. In 
each area in which there is a group of colleges there should be a 
Higher Educational Council or Senate, through which the work 
of all the colleges and universities should be coordinated. This 
matter is discussed more fully in Sections 210-224. 

112. To insure cooperation between all the areas, and to mould 
the whole body of schools and educational agencies into a smoothly 
working cooperative system, the work of the China Christian Edu- 
cational Association should be organized in four departments: 
the Department of Higher Education, the Department of Elemen- 
tary and Secondary Education, the Department of Religious Edu- 
cation, and the Department of Extension and Adult Education, 
each with its own council and secretary. The council of the Depart- 
ment of Higher Education should be composed of representatives 
of the Christian colleges, and the Council of the Department of 
Elementary and Secondary Education of representatives of the 
Provincial Boards of Education. The four councils should unit- 
edly form the National Board of Christian Education. 

113. The specific duties of the National Board should include : 

a. Publication and promulgation of the plan above out- 
lined. 

b. Efforts to induce the Provincial Associations to take 
steps looking to the creation of the Provincial Boards of Education ; 
the higher educational institutions to organize federated univer- 
sities in their several areas; and the organization of the inter- 
provincial associations. 

c. The holding of conventions and conferences for the 
promotion of these plans and of Christian education in general. 

d. The dissemination of literature looking to the improve- 
ment of Christian education. 

e. The correlation of the activities of the Provincial 
Boards of Education, especially with respect to minimum essen- 
tials, teacher training, supervision of schools, provision of text- 
books, and the testing of the results of teaching. 

114. With a view to securing greater symmetry and effective- 



6o CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ness in the system of Christian eckication. and specifically to 
strengthening what might otherwise be the weak spots of the 
system, it is recommended that an increasing proportion of the 
funds available for Christian education be under the immediate 
control of the Boards of Managers of educational institutions, or 
Provincial Boards of Education, and the China Christian Educa- 
tional Association, and that these funds be available : 

a. For appropriation to schools which require strength- 
ening in order to fill their places in the system; 

b. For the promotion and improvement of education 
through publication, and the holding of conventions and con- 
ferences. 

The method by which a denominational Board pays the 
salaries of men and women designated by such Board for service in 
a given school, or for educational work in a specific position, has 
its advantages, and it may be expedient to continue it as one 
method for the present. Its exclusive or too general use inevitably 
hampers the development of the schools, and the other method of 
direct appropriation to a fund administered on the field should be 
much more largely employed than at present. 

VII. The Heart of the Problem 

115. The study of education in any country inevitably in- 
volves many matters of detail, and the prosecution of it much 
organization and machinery. To this fact Christian education in 
China is no exception. But no attention to details of organiza- 
tion ought to obscure the significant fact that China, a great nation 
of four hundred million people, is passing through an exception- 
ally interesting and significant period of its history. There is a 
great mass of men, women, and children to whom national and 
international politics are of little moment compared with the affairs 
of their own farm, or house, or village. But in all the centers there 
is a surging, seething life. The new government, the new educa- 
tion, the new thought, the new industry, claim the attention and 
enlist their thinking. 



PLACE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE 6i 

Ii6. Into the midst of this new life the Christian preacher 
and the Christian teacher, believing that they possess in their mes- 
sage the answer to China's problems and the solvent of her per- 
plexities, are endeavoring to make this message a vital force in 
the life of the people. Compared with the millions of people they 
are a handful. Compared with the government, weak though it is, 
their resources are meagre. Compared with the schools of the 
government, their numbers are iew and their student body small. 
How shall they make their influence most effective? How shall 
they turn the stream of China's life into the channels of power and 
of safety? 

117. The stud)'- which the Commission has made, in the case 
of some of the members extending over years, in the case of others 
a few months, has brought them to the conviction that Christian 
principles may yet become the controlling force in China's life. 
But whether this will be the case will depend in no small measure 
upon the wisdom and intelligence with which Christian education 
is carried on in the next few years, and the generosity with which 
it is supported by gifts from Christian lands. Evangelism is su- 
premely important. But evangelism itself will fail, if there are 
not schools in which to produce evangelists who, knowing the 
Christian message, can speak to their own people, Chinese to 
Chinese. If Christian education fails the growing stream of non- 
Christian education and of anti-Christian influence will submerge 
the Christian movement, or reduce it to a place of minor impor- 
tance. The future of Christian education is not yet assured. 
To say that it trembles in the balance is to use too strong language. 
There are many schools, well established, well equipped, well 
staffed, that can not easily be destroyed. But it is not yet settled 
whether Christian education is to be the determining force or a 
relatively insignificant and diminishing factor in Chinese life. 
On the answer to this question will largely hang the decision 
whether China will become a Christian nation, perhaps the strong- 
hold of Christianity in future centuries. • If the present hour of 
opportunity is vigorously and wisely seized, if forgetting unim- 
portant differences we unite all our efforts to build up a system 



62 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

of education, sound, vigorous, progressive, and, fundamentally 
Christian, which shall in turn create a strong Christian community 
expressing in its life the spirit and principles of Christianity, we 
may look with hope to the time when the religion of Jesus will be 
the religion of China, But this demands that we give diligent 
effort both to unite all our forces in China in the development of 
an effective, coordinated system of education, and to secure in 
Europe and America the personal and financial resources that will 
sustain such a system until the Chinese church shall take over both 
its management and its support. - 

ii8. The challenge of the situation in China to-day is a 
clarion call to all who believe that the people of the West and the 
people of the East should work together for the common good 
of all. We appeal to the citizens of the British Empire and the 
United States especially, to interest themselves in the problem which 
the Commission has been facing, that they may realize that the issue 
is not one for teachers or professional educators alone, but should 
enlist the intelligent sympathy and practical support of every 
lover of humankind. 



PART III 

SPECIFIC TYPES AND GRADES OF 
EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 
I. The Elementary School and the Christian Community i 

119. Christian elementary schools were first established for 
the purpose of making an opening for the preaching of the gospel. 
The breaking down of prejudice, the winning of the confidence of 
the parents, the provision of a recognised Christian center in town 
or city, and the conversion of individuals — these were the objec- 
tives. But, as the Christian community has developed, the elemen- 
tary school has assumed a new function, that of providing for the 
children of that community a sound education in a Christian atmo-, 
sphere, and so laying the foundations of Christian character in the 
impressionable years of childhood. In this way the schools bear 
a large part in the upbuilding of an intelligent Christian society, 
able to accomplish its great and difficult task. This, it is generally 
agreed, is now the main purpose of Christian elementary education, 
though it should still open its doors to other than Christian chil- 
dren, and thus enlarge the sphere of Christian influence. Further, 
since Christian education as a whole includes as one of its im- 
portant aims the selection and training of the future leaders of the 
Christian community, such training should be given in the ele- 
mentary schools as will develop those elements of character that 
are essential to true leadership, and those who give signs of poten- 

63 



64 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

tial leadership should be encouraged to enter the middle school.^ 

1 20. So conceived, the function of the elementary school is 
one without which the Christian community of the next generation 
will be immeasurably weaker, and with which it cannot afford to 
dispense. The Commission believes that for the present at least, 
and probably for some time to come, Christian elementary schools 
should continue to be maintained as essential factors in the life 
and work of the church. This implies, however, that they must 
actually do that for which they have been established. Unfortu- 
nately, the Commission has found many schools that do not justify 
their existence. Either the education they offer is so poor that 
it fails to give to Christian children an adequate training, and so 
discredits the whole Christian movement, or the Christian power 
of the school is too weak to make any impression, on its students 
or on the community. Such schools should be improved or dis- 
continued. 

121. Because of the intimate connection that exists between 
the Christian schools and the life of the Christian community, it is 
increasingly necessary that the schools should reflect the spirit and 
the ideals of that community which should assume their direc- 
tion and support. Exclusive control of elementary schools by 
missionaries has already, for the most part, been replaced by joint 
control with the Chinese church ; as rapidly as the church in any 
part of the country can assume the responsibility, the direction of 
elementary education should pass into its hands. There will be 
need of wisdom in making this transfer in such a way that it will 
increase the educational and Christian efficiency of the schools. 

II. Christian Elementary Schools and the Chinese System 
of Public Education 

122. In a former chapter it was shown that there is a perma- 
nent place in China for Christian education as a whole. Does this 

1 In accord with the principle adopted throughout the report, the six-year elementary 
course proposed by the China Associated Educational Associations is assumed in this sec- 
tion. It includes the present lower primary course, and two years of the higher primary. 
The higher primary third year becomes the first year of the junior middle school. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 65 

apply to the elementary school? The question is one of first im- 
portance, and it requires careful consideration. 

It is generally agreed that upon the government of a 
country rests the responsibility of seeing that adequate provision 
is made for the education of all children, and for securing their 
attendance at school. Such provision may be made either through 
the public operation of all elementary schools, by public control 
of the standards of schools privately maintained, or by various 
combinations of the two methods. 

123. Within recent years Chinese educators have accepted 
this responsibility and have set themselves to provide universal 
facilities of modern education. The task before them is one of 
vast proportions. There are in China seventy million children of 
elementary school age. According to the statistics of the year 
1916, only 4,086,962 of these children were actually attending 
scho'ols that are recognized by the public authorities. This is one 
per cent of the total population of the country. Even including 
such of the private schools of the old classical style as might be 
expected in time to reach the standards of modern education, 
provision is now being made for the education of less than two 
per cent of the population of China, which is not more than one- 
tenth of those who should be in the elementary schools. 

124. To establish, staff and maintain ten times the present 
number of schools is a tremendous undertaking; but there can be 
no doubt that it will be successful eventually. The Christian forces 
are aiding in its accomplishment through the maintenance of ele- 
mentary schools. The fact that the Christian schools will be rela- 
tively few in number, at present only 4.9 per cent of the total, 
makes it all the more necessary that they be good in order to make 
a contribution of any value. 

Further, the progress of education in China is being aided 
by the belief of the members of the Christian community in the 
value of modern schools. While only two per cent at most of the 
total population of China are in the elementary schools, it is esti- 
mated that ten per cent of the Christian community are in the 
Christian schools. 



66 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Lastly, a system of public education tends to become rigid 
and to discourage variation and experiment. There is an educational 
justification for the existence of a relatively small group of schools 
that is free to conduct experiments, to develop along somewhat 
different lines, and to emphasize aspects of education which re- 
ceive too small attention or are entirely neglected in the public 
system. Especially is there need in China to-day for schools 
that express the principle that the religious needs of the child 
are to be provided for in a comprehensive educational pro- 
gram. 

For these reasons, the Commission believes that the 
Chinese educational authorities will recognise the value of Chris- 
tian elementary schools, provided always that they actually give 
an education of a high standard. 

125. The following principles should guide in the relations 
of the Christian schools to the public system of elementary edu- 
cation : 

a. Full recognition should be given of the duty of the 
government to make provision for the adequate education of all 
the children of China, and of the fact that all private schools 
must in some way be brought within the scope of the national 
school system. 

b. Christian schools should loyally meet all legitimate 
standards of the public system, particularly those concerned with 
buildings and equipment, the qualifications of the teaching staff, 
the supervision of instruction, and the composition of controlling 
bodies. 

c. As far as is consistent with their function as recog- 
nized variants from type. Christian schools should follow the 
government classification of schools, content of curricula, and 
disciplinary regulations. 

d. Government inspection of schools should be wel- 
comed, and official recognition of schools be sought, provided al- 
ways that this does not involve the sacrifice of that which is the 
very essence of the contribution of the Christian schools, that is, 
the maintenance of the Christian spirit and ideals. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 67 

e. One benefit arising from a close relation to the gov- 
ernment system is the removal of the suspicion that Christian 
schools tend to "foreignize" children. In order that they may 
actually be Chinese in spirit and method, the direction of the 
schools should, as far as possible, be undertaken by the Christian 
community rather than by missionary organisations. 

f. It should be recognized that Christian schools cannot 
be maintained in every community. The number must be limited 
by the extent to which schools can be effectively conducted. It is 
also possible that in some places, where the publicly-conducted 
schools aiiford a good education and adequate provision can be 
made in other ways for realising the religious purpose of the 
Christian school, it may be in the best interests of the Christian 
movement as a whole not to maintain a separate elementary school. 
This would be the case particularly where the existence of a 
Christian school is likely to be regarded as unnecessary competition 
with the publicly-supported school, and friendly relations between 
the church and the general community are thus imperilled. 

g. Instances have been known where Christian schools 
have been allowed the free use of temples or other public build- 
ings, or have received annual grants from public educational funds. 
It is doubtful, however, if a widespread development of financial 
help should be expected and, in view of the present uncertainty of 
government policy, it appears to be wise not to depend upon public 
grants for the maintenance of Christian schools. 

III. The Number and Distribution of Christian 
Elementary Schools 

126. Christian elementary schools follow the present govern- 
ment classification into lower primary (four years) and higher 
primary (three years). Of the former, there are 5,607 schools 
with 150,779 students, and of the latter, 956 schools and 32,829 
students. This total of less than 200,000 students in Christian ele- 
mentary schools is 4.3 per cent of the elementary school enrollment 
in China. The proportion of Christian students to the whole varies 



68 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

greatly in different provinces from 32 per cent in Fukien to i.i per 
cent in Yunnan. 

127. Christian schools do not reach all the children of school 
age, even in the Christian community. Taking the total of the 
Christian community as 1,000,000, it contains at least 200,000 
children of school age. The total enrollment in Christian elemen- 
tary schools is less than this number, and it is probable that more 
than half of those in the schools are from outside the Christian 
community. One mission reports that of 3,014 students in lower 
primary schools, only 640 (or 21 per cent) are from Christian 
homes, and of 511 higher primary students but 157 (or 31 per 
cent). Some Christian children are attending other schools, but it 
is a conservative estimate that from one-half to two-thirds of the 
coming generation of Christians is growing up in what is practical 
illiteracy. Further, the large majority of children in the lower 
primary schools are in the first two years, and most of these 
leave school by the end of the second year, before they can become 
permanently literate. Actual figures concerning elimination have 
not been secured, but the condition is serious. The Commission 
urges that careful studies be made to ascertain how much of the 
effort in the elementary schools is being largely thrown away 
because of failure of parents to continue children in school. 

There should be definite plans adopted to meet this 
condition. The church as a whole should inaugurate a campaign to 
secure the regular school attendance of all Christian children, at 
Christian schools where they exist, until the completion of the ele- 
mentary course. Such an anticipation of the introduction of com- 
pulsory education by the government would be of inestimable 
benefit to the Christian community and would encourage the public 
educational authorities. 

128. The number of boys in attendance at school is consid- 
erably larger than that of girls. According to the Survey volume 
the proportion of boys to girls in all Christian lower primary 
schools is 68 to 32, and in higher primary 71 to 29. In the public 
and Christian schools combined the proportions are 96 to 4 in the 
lower primary and 95 to 5 in the higher primary. This startling 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 69 

discrepancy in the amount of provision made for the education of 
girls indicates the greatest lack in Chinese public education, and 
the place where help from the Christian movement is most needed. 
Especially in the country districts the Christian church has a free 
field in the education of girls. 

129. Increased provision for the education of girls can be 
made either in separate schools, or by coeducation. The latter 
method is in use in many parts of the country. There is much 
to be said for it in the lower grades. It avoids the necessity for 
duplication of schools ; it makes possible the employment of women 
teachers for young children of both sexes ; and, by the combina- 
tion of two existing schools, it secures a larger staff and better 
grading of students. In the higher grades, the experiment should 
be made with caution. In any case, coeducation should be limited 
to day schools. 

130. It has been the expressed aim of many missions, realized 
to a large degree in some parts of the country, that there should 
be a Christian lower primary day school in connection with every 
organised congregation, and a higher primary boarding school in 
every large Christian center. While sympathising with the desire 
to extend Christian education in this way to all Christian commu- 
nities, the Commission is of the opinion that the present combined 
strength of the Chinese church and the missionary organisations 
is insufficient to maintain in a satisfactory manner so large a num- 
ber of schools. It, therefore, recommends the following policy in 
regard to the distribution of elementary schools : 

a. Only so many schools should be maintained as can 
be brought to reasonable educational standards and can be made 
effective in their Christian influence upon the students and the 
community. Where this involves, as it undoubtedly will, the aban- 
donment of many existing schools, this should be looked upon not 
as a weakening of the influence of Christian education, but as a 
strengthening of it through concentration of effort. 

b. Schools should be wisely distributed, with consider- 
ation both of their immediate influence upon the local community 
and also of their largest contribution to the church as a whole. 



70 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Isolated schools may be necessary in districts newly entered by 
the Christian church, but, in general, schools should be so located 
as to permit of easy connection with a larger educational organi- 
sation. 

c. Elementary day schools should be so grouped about 
middle schools, with regard both to location and administration, 
as to insure the steady progress of large numbers of students from 
the lower to the higher schools. A small but closely coordinated 
group of elementary schools, sending a large proportion of stu- 
dents to the middle school, is more effective in every way than a 
much greater number of widely scattered schools. 



IV. Types of School 

131. The Commission was glad to find in the elementary 
schools a general approximation to government standards. While 
there still exists throughout the country a large number of the so- 
called old-style classical schools, the number of these under Chris- 
tian auspices is small. Unfortunately, many others have the name 
without the reality of modern schools. These should either be 
made what they claim to be, or be given up. In the villages, the 
schools have usually only one teacher, and are often very ineffi- 
cient. There is, however, an increasing number of excellent 
"model schools," with simple buildings that conform to the stan- 
dard requirements, with trained and supervised teachers, and 
teaching that is equal to the best in similar conditions in other 
lands. In the cities there are still too many small schools housed 
in dirty, ill-ventilated shops or rooms connected with church 
property. 

132. At the opposite extreme are the city schools, both day 
and boarding, under either church or mission control, with well- 
graded classes, trained teachers, attractive classrooms and large 
attendance. The advantages of concentration, judged by the cri- 
terion of Christian influence, are most manifest in such situations. 
One such school is worth more to the Christian movement than 
a score of poorly conducted ones. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 71 

133. The number of kindergartens that the Commission found 
was disappointingly small. The Chinese need those aspects of edu- 
cation upon which the kindergarten has laid emphasis. In elemen- 
tary schools of the older type little is asked of the child in the 
educational process but receptivity. In the kindergarten the child 
must make his contribution of self-active effort before the teacher 
can furnish the interpretation and guidance which constitute her 
contribution. Educational method is thus a process of interaction 
between the child and the teacher, in which the child furnishes the 
impulses and the interests, and the teacher their organisation to- 
ward the ends of education. Through manual and other activities, 
by means of drawing and music, by the quickening of the senses, 
the teacher seeks to secure from the child original expression, so 
that he may be said to make the larger contribution to his own 
education. 

A child, whose first approach to the process of education 
is through the kindergarten, is found to be much more alert and 
quick to learn, and his progress in the elementary school is more 
rapid that that of the student who commences with the more formal 
methods. There is need for many more kindergartens. There is 
also need for the use of the methods of the kindergarten in the 
first two years of the elementary course. Kindergarten training 
should be given not only to prospective kindergarten teachers, but 
also to those who are to teach the lower classes in the primary 
grades. 

134. Undoubtedly one cause of ineffective schools has been 
the confusion of aims in schools of different types. Without at- 
tempting a full treatment of the subject the Commission makes 
the following suggestions of types of school that should be main- 
tained : 

a. Kindergarten. — Where the number of young children 
warrants it and resources are available, kindergarten classes should 
be established in elementary schools or, if that is not possible, in 
separate institutions. Further, the teacher of the first two years 
of the elementary school should be trained in kindergarten methods 
or in the project method. The ideal plan would be a combined 



72 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

course with no break at the beginning of the first year of the 
elementary school, 

b. Village school. — The Christian church should main- 
tain as many village schools of distinctive character as possible. 
Probably one half of the population of China lives in small com- 
munities of from one to three hundred persons each. In these 
farm villages a type of school is required that is radically different 
from that in the large town or city. The life of the people is essen- 
tially homogeneous, and the church should meet its needs as a 
whole. A combined "church-and-school," conducted as a religious, 
educational and social center for children and adults alike, would 
be a mighty force to uplift the community. One man, as "teacher- 
preacher," definitely trained to meet the problems of the village, 
might better meet the situation than two men. 

This school should attempt no ambitious class-room pro- 
gram. Emphasis should be put on reading, writing and ele- 
mentary mathematics, and on simple training in hygiene, good 
citizenship, home-making and market-gardening, all directly applied 
to conditions in the village. For adults there should be evening 
classes, an enlarged Sunday school with the widest possible edu- 
cational features, among which the teaching to read by means of 
phonetic script or character would be prominent, and winter week- 
day classes in regions where farm work is largely suspended for 
some months. During the busy seasons of planting and harvesting 
the school should be closed to enable the children to help in the 
fields. At this time the teacher should identify himself with the 
people by joining in the field work; or attend an institute planned 
for rural teachers. 

The village school would normally cover the work of the 
first four years only and have but one teacher. Where the teacher's 
wife could take classes, or an assistant be employed, the full six- 
years' course would be given. The teacher should be trained in the 
use of the ungraded school methods. The school should be sup- 
ported in the first place by a central fund, but as soon as possible 
its support should be undertaken by the local community, with such 
grants-in-aid from the central fund as are necessary. In some 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 73 

cases the establishment and support of one or two model schools 
of this nature by the mission, or by the whole church of a district, 
would be sufficient stimulus to lead to the voluntary undertaking 
of the support of others. 

c. Central boarding school. — Those responsible for the 
establishment of schools have rightly stressed the importance of 
having children over twelve years of age live in a boarding school, 
where they are under continuous Christian influence. The village 
day schools should be grouped about central boarding schools, 
which would take students at the beginning of the fifth year and 
continue them up into the junior middle school for one, two or 
three years. Such a school should be located on the outskirts of 
a town with which the villages are naturally connected. The build- 
ing, while conforming to established standards, should be inexpen- 
sive, and its equipment as simple as possible. There should be 
three or four teachers for a school of sixty or so. Emphasis 
should be laid upon those subjects that prepare the child to meet 
the problems of the rural community; especially should more ad- 
vanced work in agriculture be given by a well-trained teacher. 
Such a school, if under Chinese direction, would provide unrivalled 
opportunities for the development of Chinese initiative in Christian 
education. 

d. Tozvn and city school. — In larger towns and in cities 
elementary schools are tending to become day schools, They should 
be well-staffed, with one teacher for each class. There seems to be 
no adequate reason for the maintenance of one-teacher schools in 
the cities ; in these communities comparison will be made with the 
best schools conducted by the public authorities. A combination 
of two or more small schools, even though under different denomi- 
nations, would greatly aid the whole Christian movement in the 
place. A richer curriculum should be provided than that of the 
village schools, with local variations to meet specific needs of the 
children for occupational training. 

The present large and rather expensive city higher 
primary boarding schools should either develop into full junior 
middle schools or become six-year primary day schools. This is in 



74 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

line with probable developments detailed in the following section. 
In any boarding school adequate provision must be made 
for the housing and oversight of the students. One more teacher 
should be employed than in a day school in order to take full ad- 
vantage of the opportunity to influence the students personally in 
games, study hours, and through the social and religious activities 
of the school. 

135. School buildings. — Too often there appears to be a 
feeling that there is no middle ground between school buildings 
that are absolutely to be condemned and expensive foreign-style 
structures. In the elementary grades the foreignized building is, 
as a rule, out of place and sometimes harmful to the influence of 
the school. Materials and structure should be adapted to the re- 
sources and conditions of the locality, and a result should be sought 
which is homelike and attractive. This means that the standards 
for buildings and their equipment should be worked out largely 
by Chinese, who are thoroughly familiar with the conditions in 
which the school is to be located. When these standards have been 
adopted no better use could be made of mission funds than the 
erection in central locations of a few models, which could be 
copied in other places. The Commission recommends the erection 
of a residence for the teacher in connection with the school. 



V. The Training 

136. Objective. — It has already been said that the aim of 
the elementary school is the production of intelligent Christian 
personalities, for the good not only of the individuals themselves 
but also of the Christian community and of Chinese society as a 
whole. It is not possible to analyze in any detail the implications 
of this aim, and so to discover the specific objectives which should 
determine the curricula and the activities of the school. But a 
summary of these objectives can be given: 

a. A sound and well-developed body, and such physical 
habits as will keep the body in a healthy condition and make 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 75 

possible a clean, normal, vigorous mental and moral life. This 
includes knowledge of hygiene, correct personal habits, and play. 

b. Emphasis on the fundamental habits and attitudes that 
make up Christian character in the child. Without attempting an 
exhaustive list, these would include : ( i ) habits of truth and of 
honesty in action and thought, as well as in word; (2) a habit of 
looking at things from the standpoint of others, which is the es- 
sence of unselfishness, this to include, in particular, care of the 
weak and helpless and kindness to animals; (3) sensitiveness to 
the promptings of conscience, and a growing appreciation of the 
standards of right conduct ; (4) increasing strength of will to 
obey the dictates of an enlightened conscience ; (5) a normal child's 
attitude of trust in and love for the Heavenly Father, express- 
ing itself not only in worship and prayer but in service to His 
other children. 

c. (i) A sound training in the fundamental tools of 
education, i. e., reading, writing, and the elementary operations in 
arithmetic, all in their applications to the life which the student is 
to live. This should be made the heart of the formal teaching. 
By the end of the lower primary the child should be able to read 
with ease and pleasure Mandarin or the local vernacular, to write 
ordinary letters and business forms, and to use his knowledge of 
arithmetic in the ordinary processes of his daily life. On the com- 
pletion of the higher primary he should have acquired a habit of 
and love for reading. (2) The general knowledge that every child 
should have to broaden his outlook and enlarge his sympathies, 
such as the facts of health and sanitation, understanding of the 
world about him (including nature study, stories of child life in 
other lands, and the main facts of geography), and a sympathy for 
the past, gained mainly through stories from the history of his own 
and other lands. (3) The training of the elementary skills of the 
hand, including drawing, handicrafts, needlework and gardening. 
(4) The arousing of an intelligent interest in the life of the social 
groups in which the child lives, and in other forms of society. 

d. The development of an enlightened patriotism, and 
an understanding of the fundamental duties and privileges of a 



76 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

member of Chinese society. This would start from the studies 
of the pupil's own social group. 

e. Some understanding of the vocations of his group, in 
order to enlarge his sympathy, to arouse his interest in the choice 
of his own vocation, and to give him some training (the amount 
to be determined by careful study) in the chosen vocation. 

f. Training in courtesy and in those forms of etiquette 
which are the expression of a spirit of consideration for others. 

g. Training in the happy use of leisure through the ap- 
preciation of books, art and music ; the participation in games and 
in social intercourse ; and the cultivation of hobbies, which may 
grow out of the vocational subjects studied. The child should be 
so taught however, that he finds his highest pleasure in his work. 

137. In general the standard curriculum of the government 
should be followed. It represents the serious attempt to adapt 
to Chinese needs the experiences of other lands. It leaves enough 
room for variation, so that the Christian school may make its own 
contribution to educational method. There is a distinct advantage, 
also, in the use of a somewhat standardized curriculum for the 
Christian schools, based on that of the government, with care- 
fully worked-out courses especially in those subjects in which 
there is variation from the government course. This can be done 
without unduly hampering the freedom of the individual school. 
Teachers should be encouraged to experiment and to put the result 
of their experiment at the disposal of others. The curriculum 
should be marked by growth. 

138. Religious education. — The subject of religious educa- 
tion is treated in a separate chapter, but one aspect must be con- 
sidered here. Should attendance at Bible instruction and religious 
services be required of all students in the Christian elementary 
school? The Christian school exists primarily for the training 
of Christian children; it is a private school, and no compulsion 
is put upon any parent to send his child to it. It has therefore 
seemed reasonable in the past to expect all students alike to attend 
classes in religious instruction and church services. If this is 
carefully explained to the parents of all new students difficulty 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION -Jl 

is not likely to arise. When complaint is made by the students 
themselves on the score of lack of interest the cause will probably 
be found to lie in the way in which classes and services are con- 
ducted. They should be made the most attractive parts of the 
whole school life. If the Christian influence of the school is made 
to depend upon the attractiveness of the character of the teacher 
and the spirit of the whole school life more than upon set lessons 
or required attendance, it will matter little what the actual regula- 
tions of the school may be. Under some circumstances it may 
even be found advisable to remove definite requirements. 

139. Occupational training. — In the face of the poverty of so 
large a part of China's population, which compels the withdrawal 
of most children before they have completed the elementary 
school, it seems necessary to introduce at every grade courses that 
will give the students some direct preparation for their work in 
life. For the child who goes no further than the first four years 
of the elementary school, occupational training should take the 
form of simple handwork, based upon the local industries, home- 
work for girls, gardening, including the care of animals and 
poultry, and the raising of silkworms and bees. At the same time 
the occupational values of reading, writing, and arithmetic should 
be emphasized as the necessary basis for all advance in life. 

Most children will receive their final schooling in the 
elementary school, and they should therefore be given direct 
training in occupational courses that will help them to do better 
in life. These are particularly needed for children in boarding 
schools. Choice of courses to be offered should be made only after 
a study of the occupations of the locality. Among them will be 
gardening and simple farmwork, the use of the abacus and simple 
bookkeeping, practical lessons in domestic science for girls, train- 
ing in some of the fundamental processes that underly several 
industries (such as wood-work, metal-work, leather-work, and de- 
signing) and industries that can be carried on in the home (such 
as weaving and tailoring). 

140. Mention has been made of the need for training in the 
care of health. Painful evidence was discovered in many places 



78 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

of neglect, on the part of those in control of schools, of the health 
of their students. Unhygienic classrooms, crowded, damp or ill- 
ventilated dormitories, unsuitable desks and seats, unspeakable 
toilet arrangements, filthy and unscreened kitchens and dining- 
rooms, all were found in every part of China and often in what 
were considered schools of the better class. Appalling ignorance 
of, or strange indifference to, the rules of hygienic living mark far 
too many schools. Teachers should be given most careful training 
in this subject, and those who are in control of schools should listen 
to the complaints of the teachers and see that bad conditions are 
righted. Teachers should also be shown how to detect the more 
simple organic defects, as of the eyes and ears, and the approach 
of the diseases of childhood. Arrangements should be made 
whereby all children, including those in village schools, are given 
a medical examination at least once a year. Here the cooperation 
of Christian doctors and nurses is necessary. The charge some- 
times laid against missionaries — would that it were always unjust — 
that they care so much for the souls of the Chinese that they neglect 
to care for their bodies, must be removed by a persistent campaign 
for good health. 

VI. The Teacher 

141. We have come to the most important factor in the 
success of the Christian schools, the teacher. What he is, the 
school will be. For this reason it seems necessary here to refer 
briefly to certain aspects of the subject, leaving, however, fuller 
treatment to the Chapter on the Education of Teachers. We 
would indicate first what should be expected in the man or woman 
who is to train the boys and girls in the Christian schools. 

a. He should have a sound body and such physical habits 
as are desired in the students. He should also be fond of play 
so that he may lead his students in recreation. 

b. In his own life he should embody those fundamental 
habits and attitudes which are essential elements in Christian char- 
acter, and he should have that personal power which makes charac- 
ter attractive. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 79 

c. He must himself be master of the tools of knowledge, 
especially being proficient in the use of his own language. His 
knowledge of other subjects should be sufficiently extensive to 
meet all legitimate demands of the elementary curriculum, and exact 
so far as it goes. He needs imagination in order to grasp knowl- 
edge as the child does, objectively and in its human relations. 
Method is even more important to the elementary teacher than 
extensive equipment in subject matter. 

d. He should be able to use his hands, respect the work 
of men's hands, and be able to enlist the children's interest in 
practical occupations. 

e. Since the Christian school exists primarily for the 
sake of the Christian community the teacher should have a close 
relation to the church, be in complete sympathy with its ideals, 
share in its activities, and take seriously his duty as its representa- 
tive in the school. His loyalty should be not to an individual 
missionary nor to the mission but to the Christian church. On the 
other hand he should be guarded, by wise organization, from too 
great control by ignorant or conservative local church boards or 
individuals. 

142. The teacher should be made to feel that in the Christian 
school he is serving his country quite as truly as if he were in a 
publicly supported school. He should be encouraged to ally himself 
with local or provincial teachers' associations. In this and in other 
ways everything possible should be done to remove from the 
school all that marks it as foreign. Care in this regard may 
obviate much future trouble. 

143. Reference must be made to the need for a wider adop- 
tion of modern methods of instruction. The traditional method 
in China has been a lecture by the teacher with the student listening 
in respectful silence. This is still the method largely in vogue 
in middle schools, especially those in the public system, and it is 
found in many primary schools. Probably the greatest cause of 
the widespread indifference of the mass of the people to the new 
education is that the attempt to teach new subjects by the methods 
formerly used with the classics, has resulted in failure to give the 



8o CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

child a training of value. The government has seen the impor- 
tance of teacher training and is succeeding in the public nor- 
mal schools to a degree that is unrealized by many missionaries. 
It would be a safe prophecy that Christian elementary edu- 
cation will stand or fall during the next ten years according as 
it awakes or not to the absolute necessity for training its 
teachers. 

144. Normal training, however, is not enough to guarantee 
the continued success of the teacher. No one can do his best 
work in isolation, and most of the elementary teachers are obliged 
to pass months at a time without an opportunity to discuss their 
problems with others who understand them. They need the stimu- 
lus of some one who can bring fresh vision, new methods, 
and direct advice on the numerous difficulties of the class- 
room. This is particularly the case where the majority of 
the teachers have had little or no professional training. The obser- 
vation of the Commission in China is that many mediocre teachers 
are doing excellent work, provided they are visited regularly by 
sympathetic and skilled supervisors. It is strongly recommended 
that all elementary schools be grouped in districts, that a super- 
visor be engaged for each district, and that, if it is necessary, in 
order to carry out the plan, to close some schools, this be done 
in order that the most experienced teachers may be freed for these 
essential positions. No one should be given supervisory responsi- 
bility unless he has taught successfully for some years and has 
then been given definite training for the work of overseeing and 
directing teachers. Since the supervisor should be thoroughly 
familiar with the conditions existing in the elementary schools it 
follows that he should, ideally, be a Chinese. Foreign super- 
visors should be employed only when Chinese with suitable expe- 
rience and training cannot be found. Good salaries should be paid 
in order that the best men may be secured. 

The importance of this recommendation cannot be over- 
estimated. No one change in educational policy will mean such 
an advance in elementary education as the general adoption of a 
plan of expert supervision. The training of supervisors should 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 8i 

be made one of the strongest features of normal schools and col- 
lege courses in education. 

145. With the introduction of coeducation into lower grades, 
the question has arisen whether men or women should teach them. 
As a matter of fact some of the best government schools have 
both men and women as teachers in their lower grades, and this 
seems a satisfactory arrangement in a graded school with a number 
of teachers. If kindergarten methods are used in the first two 
years of the course it would seem better that the schools should be 
taught by women. In one-teacher village schools a male teacher 
would, as a rule, be preferred, both because of the problem of 
chaperonage for a young woman, and also because of the variety 
of activities in which it is recommended that he engage. It would 
be ideal in the village situation if both husband and wife were 
trained teachers, and shared in the responsible duties of the 
position. 

VII. Organization and Control 

146. Christian elementary schools were originally opened by 
individual missionaries and were unrelated to each other. In too 
many places they still retain this isolation. Where connections 
have been formed it is chiefly among schools under the direction 
of one missionary, or in one mission district. The same condition, 
usually in its extreme form, exists in the case of schools con- 
ducted by independent churches or church bodies. Modern edu- 
cational practice in other lands is all against this lack of system, 
and experience in China shows how ineffective is independency as a 
school policy. Some form of organization into a coordinated sys- 
tem is essential to economical and successful administration. See 
Part II, Sections 101-114. 

147. The following comprehensive plan of organization (148- 
151) is recommended. It would naturally include both elementary 
and secondary schools, but definite reference is made here only 
to its relation to elementary schools. Control should be divided 
among three administrative bodies, central, local, and intermediate. 



82 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

148. In each provincial area (see Section 107) there should 
be a strong central board representing all types and grades of 
schools. Its functions in relation to elementary education would 
include : 

a. Determination of general educational policies; de- 
cision as to the establishment or closing of schools, and their classi- 
fication ; legislation on matters affecting the system as a whole. 

b. The establishment of minimum essentials in buildings 
and equipment, curricula, qualifications of teachers, and other simi- 
lar matters; and the adoption of methods for insuring adherence 
to these standards. 

c. The provision of means for the adequate training of 
teachers, for their regular supervision, and for their improve- 
ment in service through such agencies as summer schools and 
teachers' institutes. 

d. The testing of the results of the educational process, 
by the inspection of schools, examination of students, and the 
use of standard tests. 

e. The disbursement of central school funds supplied by 
the Mission Boards and the church organizations. 

149. Four types of central control are found through boards 
or committees of (i) a mission, (2) a church organization, (3) 
the ecclesiastical body representing a church and a mission, and 
(4) an interdenominational regional association or union. Where 
boards of types (i) and (2) exist in the same area, or are con- 
trolling schools of the same denomination they should be combined 
in a board of type (3). Membership on the board should be 
dependent upon ability to direct education, but one-half, at least, 
of the total membership should be Chinese. For the sake of effi- 
ciency and economy in administration, it is recommended that 
interdenominational provincial or regional boards of education be 
formed to which the Mission and church organizations should 
delegate most of the functions listed above, with the exception of 
the decisions as to where schools should be opened or closed, and 
the disbursement of certain funds. While the engagement and 
immediate control of supervisors will often be most easily under- 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 83 

taken through the existing denominational organization, the general 
direction of supervision should be under the provincial boards, in 
order that the whole system may be standardized. 

150. A local school board is a necessary part of the admin- 
istrative machinery. 

a. It should be closely related to the governing body of 
the local church, but it is advisable that it be a separate board, 
appointed for the sole purpose of serving the interests of the 
school. It should be composed of members of the church, the 
pastor, and the supervisor. 

b. The functions of the school board should be clearly 
defined. They are to provide and maintain adequate school prem- 
ises and equipment, to share with the supervisor or the district 
board in the appointment of teachers, to collect local contributions 
to school funds, to pay the salaries of teachers, and to assist the 
teachers if asked to do so. It is not in any way part of its function 
to supervise instruction or to interfere in the management of the 
school ; but it may make recommendations or complaints on these 
matters to the district board or the supervisor. 

c. The school board should endeavor to interest the 
church members in the school and to secure the attendance of all 
the Christian children of the community. This may require finan- 
cial assistance from the church in cases where extreme poverty 
would make it impossible for children to attend school. 

151. Between the central and the local boards there should 
exist, as an important intermediate body of control, the district 
board. It would be the connecting link between the legislating 
body and that which immediately controls the school. 

a. Its functions are to see that the requirements of the 
central board are met, to appoint and supervise teachers, and to 
handle funds granted by the central authority for the schools of 
the district. 

b. A district should have at least one officer giving his 
whole time to supervision. While he may for the time being be 
a foreign missionary, it is anticipated that all such positions will 
in the near future be filled by Chinese. 



84 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

c. For the present, existing mission or church districts 
will make the simplest units of intermediate control ; but where 
a number of schools of different church connection are located in 
the same district, union boards are recommended, especially for 
the purposes of supervision. It may be necessary to differentiate 
between the educational functions of supervision and the financial 
functions of superintendency, the latter remaining with the church 
or mission board. 

On the relation of the provincial boards to one another 
see Section 112. 



VIII. Finance 

152. The methods already suggested for the improvement of 
the existing Christian elementary education call for a la ge increase 
in expenditure, especially for better buildings, higher salaries for 
teachers, and the addition of a large number of supervisors and of 
members of the central administrative bodies. Mission Boards 
should make larger appropriations for elementary schools than they 
have done in the past. But permanent support of elementary edu- 
cation by foreign missions, even if possible, would be a calamity. 
As rapidly as it can be done without injury to the schools, their 
support should pass to the Chinese church. 

153. School funds will be drawn from two sources, local 
and central. As large a proportion as possible of the cost of each 
school, including the capital cost of the building, its equipment and 
maintenance, and the salaries of the teachers, should be met by 
the local Christian community; and these local funds should be 
handled by the local school board. What is needed in order to 
supplement this amount should be given from the central fund by 
the central or district board of education in the form of grants-in- 
aid, conditioned upon the maintenance of definite standards. The 
desirabihty of securing support from the local Christian commun- 
ity should not, however, be made an excuse for poor schools. 
Where a school is maintained the grant-in-aid should be sufficient 
to insure real efficiency. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 85 

154. Appropriations from the Mission Boards or the church 
organization in China, as well as any special funds otherwise se- 
cured, should be disbursed by the largest controlling unit, the 
central or the district board, that directly represents the ecclesias- 
tical body concerned. It should allocate funds to the local school 
boards on the basis stated. It may be feasible at some future time 
for the interdenominational provincial board of education to handle 
these central funds as a whole ; but that is not essential "to the 
plan. Existing mission and church organizations should be utilized 
for the present. 

In addition to the money appropriated for individual 
schools, funds must be found for the cost of district supervision 
and of central administration, both provincial and national. Within 
reason these expenditures should be a first charge upon central 
funds. Another matter of prior claim is the erection, and a large 
share in the support, if necessary, of a few centrally-located model 
village and town schools which, as experience has proved, are very 
effective in stimulating local boards to establish similar schools. 
Where central funds are limited they can best be concentrated on 
these two items of supervision and the conduct of model schools. 
This will involve the closing of many feeble schools ; but it must 
be repeated that only so many schools should be permitted as can 
adequately realize the standards of educational and Christian effi- 
ciency. 

155. The boards that handle school funds should be com- 
posed of both Chinese and foreign members, even where for the 
time being most of the money comes from abroad. The ultimate 
ideal is to bring all elementary education under Chinese direction ; 
the realization of this ideal must not be delayed because of a false 
conception of the conditions under which funds contributed from 
abroad may be administered. It is frequently said that the body 
or the persons disbursing funds must be of the same nationality 
as those that contribute them. We would question this assumption, 
in the admirable words of an article on "The Relation of Church 
and Mission in India," in the International- Review of Missions 
for April, 1920. 



86 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

"The money given by Christian people in the West for the sup- 
port of missionary work is given by them for the work of Christ's Kingdom, 
and while it is entrusted to a missionary society to disburse, it in no way 
follows that the control of such money must be in the hands of men 
personally known to or racially kin with those who have given it. The 
best mind of the supporters of missionary work will look only to see that 
the money given is most fruitfully used for the extension of the Kingdom 
of God." 

Experience in not a few places is showing that an added 
sense of trusteeship comes to the Christian church when it is 
wisely invited to share in the disbursement of funds originating 
from abroad, 

IX. Summary of Recommendations 

(i) The fundamental aim of the Christian school is the 
development in the students of Christian character. For the full 
realization of this aim the school must be educationally efficient 
and successful in embodying and imparting the Christian spirit. 
No school should be maintained which does not justify its exist- 
ence in both regards. 

(2) The Christian school exists primarily for the good of 
the Christian community, and the distribution of schools and the 
methods of their operation should be determined by its needs. The 
application of this principle does not imply the exclusion of non- 
Christian children, but a greater concentration of effort upon the 
task of giving an adequate education to all the children of the 
Christian community. 

(3) It is natural and right that the public authorities 
should look upon the Christian schools as in reality, if not in 
name, a part of the nation-wide system of education. Those who 
direct and teach in the schools should see that they embody na- 
tional ideals of education, while they also make their distinctive 
contribution to Chinese educational practice. 

(4) Both in administration and in the content of their 
instruction the Christian schools should be intimately related to 
the life of the community in which they are established. Espe- 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 87 

daily in the farm village should the school definitely serve as a 
centre for the whole community. 

(5) Christian schools should be definitely organized into 
a complete system, with district, provincial and national boards of 
education, each with its own functions and its own executive offi- 
cers. The membership of these boards should be largely represen- 
tative of the Chinese church. 

(6) Greater emphasis should be put upon the paramount 
part in the realization of the aims of the Christian school that is 
played by the teacher ; and much more adequate provision should 
be made for the selection and professional training of teachers. 

(7) Expert supervision of all teachers is an imperative 
need, and schools should be grouped in districts and a supervisor 
appointed for each district. The training of men and women for 
these important positions should be one of the first tasks of an en- 
larged programme of normal schools and college courses in edu- 
cation. 

(8) The principle should be adopted and adhered to, that 
only so many schools shall be maintained as reach the standards 
determined by the central boards. 

(9) Central funds appropriated by Mission Boards and 
other bodies should be used mainly for the support of the super- 
visory and administrative staff, the training of teachers, the main- 
tenance of a few model schools, and the assistance of local schools 
with grants-in-aid. An increasing share in the support of the 
elementary schools should be secured from local sources by means 
of fees, church contributions, and individual gifts ; but too early and 
extreme application of this principle to an individual school must 
not be allowed to injure its efficiency. 



CHAPTER II 

SECONDARY EDUCATION 

I. The Specific Function and Central Importance of Christian 

Middle Schools 

156. Middle schools constitute the center of the educational 
system. They supply a large part of the teachers who develop 
the lower schools. They supply the most stable and self-supporting 
part of the educational pyramid, and furnish the best and largest 
portion of the students who enter the Christian colleges. 

157. The Christian middle schools are at this stage the most 
vital part of the whole Christian enterprise. They influence young 
people at the time when they are making life decisions, choosing 
vocations, fixing personal habits and social attitudes, beginning to 
form permanent attachments to friends, masters, school, and 
church, and accepting or rejecting Christianity. They touch the 
great middle classes of society among which the church is now 
growing and gaining its greatest strength. They furnish the 
sturdy supporters of Christian society. 

158. Middle schools are depending on fees for a large part of 
their support, and as they improve in quality, increase in size, in 
economic efficiency, and in the ability to meet the needs of their 
constituency, they will be able to secure still more support from 
their fees. They should also receive an ever-increasing support 
from interested Chinese, especially from their former students. 
It is not, however, likely that the church itself can soon undertake 
the main support of this grade of school. Therefore the missions 
should consider the support of their middle schools one of the 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 89 

first and largest items on their budgets. In some missions this 
may mean closing some primary schools or withdrawing from 
college work or definitely uniting with other missions to make the 
middle school strong. 

The present relative emphasis upon secondary and higher 
education is shown by the appropriations to the respective types ; 
more than half a million dollars to sixteen colleges and universi- 
ties, only a quarter million to one hundred and fifty middle schools. 
That means an average of approximately the cost of one mis- 
sionary to each middle school. Each school should have in addi- 
tion to the maintenance of its own principal, unencumbered by 
other mission work, at least the cost of one full-time teacher for 
each two-thirds of a class (six for four classes) or for each fifteen 
students, and in addition an adequate sum for supplies, equipment, 
and running expenses. According to our estimates the cost of a 
good school of six classes, with about one hundred and seventy-five 
students and a minimum staff, would exceed its fees by from 
$2,500.00 to $5,100.00. The Middle School Survey of 1918 indi- 
cates an average net cost of between $3,000.00 and $4,000.00. 

159. The specific aims of the Christian middle schools are 
four : 

a. To provide every Christian boy and girl of twelve or 
fourteen years of age with an opportunity for such an education 
as will enable him or her to fill a useful, independent, and more 
than ordinary place in society. This means that practically every 
school must give both general training for life and special occu- 
pational training. 

b. To present the Christian religion and its program of 
evangelism, social betterment, and patriotic service. 

c. To enlist and train the workers upon whom the suc- 
cess of the Christian enterprise chiefly depends, especially teachers 
and evangelists. 

d. To open a way for the few of outstanding ability to 
proceed to university and professional training. 



90 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

II. General Statement of the Situation and Outlook 

1 60. The middle schools of the government have not proved 
adequate to the demands for secondary education in China. There 
is large opportunity for the development of private schools, which 
is being taken advantage of by Roman Catholic and non-Christian 
organizations as well as by Protestant churches and missions. 

161. At present the course of study in government schools, 
which is followed fairly closely by the schools of most missions, 
consists of a four-year lower primary school, a three-year higher 
primary school, and a four-year middle school. In general the 
higher primary school as well as the middle school has been a 
boarding school, and in most cases the middle schools have been 
organized from classes added step by step to the higher primary 
schools. 

If the proposed plan of six years of elementary work and 
three years each of junior and senior middle school work, is 
adopted, as it seems likely to be, the Christian schools should also 
adopt that plan. 

162. Protestant Christian middle schools for boys are of the 
following types : 

(a.) The general type, a small middle school with a large 
higher primary school attached ; the course giving little or no occu- 
pational training, and not much training for life except of a 
linguistic and cultural sort. These schools attract chiefly on 
account of their English classes and their good discipline. The 
course usually conforms fairly closely to college preparatory re- 
quirements. 

(b.) The Anglo-Chinese college type, predominant in the 
coast ports where the training in English and Chinese have occu- 
pational value, and prepare the students for colleges in China and 
abroad. These schools are usually large and flourishing with the 
teaching partly in English. Higher primary schools are not always 
attached to schools of this type. 

(c.) Several degrees and types of compromise, varying 
from the smaller vernacular school (giving one period of English a 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 91 

day) to the large middle schools attached to colleges, which usually 
offer a strictly college preparatory course, and teach in English. 

(d.) The occupational type. Such schools are rare. 
There are a few small normal schools and a few which give, or 
plan to give, industrial or agricultural training. 

163. Some Christian middle schools are union enterprises, but 
most of them are denominational in management, though fre- 
quently not strictly so in student body, or even in staff. Some are 
privately managed and are not under any mission, while others 
are managed by the Chinese church, with or without financial aid 
from the mission. Some mission middle schools, with mission- 
aries on the staff, have Chinese principals. 

164. Christian schools usually have good grounds; fairly 
good buildings; less good equipment; curricula which are not 
closely enough related to the needs of the students; teachers of 
fine spirit, some of whom have had professional training, almost 
all of whom are overworked; physical training, the quahty of 
which varies greatly in different schools ; good school athletics ; 
and a strong spirit of service and patriotism. Contrary to a rather 
general impression, the teaching of Chinese is fairly good in 
these schools. 



III. Coeducation 

165. There is practically no coeducation in middle schools 
in China, although it has been recently approved by some govern- 
ment authorities. Neither the Chinese nor foreigners, with whom 
the Commission discussed the subject, favored coeducation at this 
period, and the Commission does not recommend it. See Sec- 
tion 457. 

IV. Occupational Training for Boys 

166. An education ,of middle school grade may be made a 
suitable preparation for the following occupations : 

a. Teaching. — More middle school graduates go into 



y 



92 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

teaching" than into any other occupation. In some cases the num- 
ber of graduates who enter teaching is greater than that of those 
going into all other occupations. The development of the Chris- 
tian church, and the Christian educational system, depends in 
large measure upon the teachers, yet the preparation of teachers 
has been badly neglected. Immediate and extensive efforts should 
be made to provide adequate training for this occupation. 

b. Business. — This occupation receives the next largest 
number of graduates, and a large majority of those who are not 
graduated. It may not bear the same relation to the Christian 
enterprise as does the teaching profession, but it does have a very 
important relation to it. The church, it is evident, is now develop- 
ing most strongly among the upper middle classes and the Chris- 
tian middle schools are drawing students chiefly from the busi- 
ness portion of the communities they serve. The parents of their 
students are mainly professional people, merchants, shippers, 
agents, bankers, managers and owners of land and houses. The 
demands, therefore, for preparation for such occupations are in 
most cases second only to those for teacher-training. 

c. Clerical positions. — These require a moderate knowl- 
edge of Chinese and English, and claim the next largest number 
of middle school graduates. These are office positions in foreign 
and Chinese firms, in schools, in such organizations as the Young 
Men's Christian Association, in publishing houses, newspaper offices, 
government offices, steamship and railway offices, post offices, cus- 
toms, telegraph and cable services. It must be frankly recognized 
that the desire for preparation for business positions, and for these 
clerical tasks, has up to the present time been one of the chief 
factors in the development of Christian middle schools. The 
schools which have offered preparation for such positions have 
been able to charge good tuition fees, and have prospered finan- 
cially. The demand for such preparation has, together with the 
entrance requirements of the colleges, determined the amount of 
English taught in the schools. It may be urged that the prepara- 
tion of boys for such tasks is not the purpose of the Christian 
schools, and should not claim too much of their attention. Yet 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 93 

the service which these young men may render China and Chris- 
tianity ought not to be underestimated. 

d. Agriculture and allied occupations. — Inasmuch as the 
population of China is mainly rural, we are forced to consider 
the neglect of training for rural occupations a serious national, 
educational, and mission problem. The church must relate its 
rural schools to rural needs. Vocational training must be given. 
The extent to which it should be made prominent in comparison 
with the types named above, which are closer to the work of the 
Christian enterprise on the one hand, and to the demands of the 
chief supporting constituency on the other, is a question. See 
Section 360. 

e. Industrial arts. — This term does not apply to trades 
that demand only apprenticeship training, or to technical occupa- 
tions which require more than middle school training. The selec- 
tion of such subjects, and the discovery or training of teachers 
for them, are exceedingly difficult tasks. The agricultural teachers 
will come directly and almost solely from the colleges of agricul- 
ture. But there is little hope of any similar source of supply for 
teachers of the industrial arts. Teachers must come out of the 
trades and industries as well as from technical schools. Close 
connection with those trades and industries must therefore be 
maintained. 

Fine aits, especially those related to industries, would 
probably constitute the core of the studies in a school of industrial 
arts. This at once relates this type of training to the school system 
as a whole, since teachers and supervisors of drawing and art are 
needed in all grades of schools as well as in many important in- 
dustries, and in business. Designing is an important profession 
in China. Surveying, the supervising of building construction, 
draughting, photography, and interior decoration are occupations 
which could be included in this group of industrial arts. Others 
of more nearly trade-school grade would be included in schools 
ranking as junior middle schools, or on the other hand, in schools 
giving teacher-training. 

The important question of th© relation of the church and 



94 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

its educational work to the new and rapidly advancing industrial- 
ism in China needs careful study. See Sections 387-408. 



V. Types of Schools to he Developed for Boys 

167. The first practical question, arising from the need for 
occupational training, is whether such courses should be com- 
bined in a single school and if so what types of schools would 
naturally result. As a rule a school should give but one kind 
of course. But in view of the importance of teacher-training, and 
the broad character of its needs, and inasmuch as so many middle 
school graduates take up teaching, this type of occupational train- 
ing ought usually to be included with each of the others. The 
business and clerical types are so much alike that they can without 
difficulty be given together. This policy would point to the follow- 
ing schools as the common types: 

1st type — The normal school, giving teacher-training. 

2nd type — The city middle school, preparing for busi- 
ness and teaching. 

3rd type — The rural school, specializing in agriculture 
and teacher-training. 

4th type — The technical school, emphasizing industrial 
arts and teacher-training. 

168. The second question is as to which of these schools 
should be the common type. 

Although the training of teachers is of prime impor- 
tance, a school limited to that work should not be the usual or 
ordinary type of middle school. 

The agricultural and industrial arts schools, with their 
normal courses, are the ones which, in the long run, will do most 
for the uplift of the mass of the population, and no finer task 
could be undertaken by the forces of the church than the develop- 
ment of these schools. Such schools are, however, expensive and 
difficult to develop, and will have to be financed largely by the 
missions, since they are usually for the poorer classes, and would 
thus receive little in fees or local contributions. 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 95 

The commercial-normal school, which is closest in type 
to the existing schools, carries with it the largest measure of local 
support, and comes nearest to meeting college entrance require- 
ments. 

169. Next comes the practical question as to whether each 
of these schools should add a college preparatory course; leave 
that training to certain types only, or to special schools ; or pro- 
vide for college preparation in some other way. 

170. The proportion of middle school students who actually 
enter college varies greatly in different schools but is in general 
very small. If certain middle schools attached to colleges are 
counted out, the proportion is still smaller. It seems, therefore, 
only right to provide occupational training for the major frac- 
tion who do not go beyond the middle school, and at the same 
time to afford opportunity for other students to proceed to fur- 
ther study. 

171. If the experience of any school has shown that all, or 
nearly all, of its entering students actually take a college educa- 
tion and so obtain occupational training there, it may legitimately 
have a program of studies including subjects of the traditional 
college-preparatory character. Nevertheless, every effort should 
be made in such schools to make the whole program of studies 
as full of real life-value as possible. Let it be carefully noted 
that such schools are not generally recommended by the Commis- 
sion, and also that it is essentially a part of the recommendation 
that the occupational subjects in other schools should be so han- 
dled as to afford the cultural values usually ascribed to less prac- 
tical subject matter. 

172. Most schools send the majority of their upper-class 
students and graduates out into life, and to meet the needs of 
these, our Christian schools should be occupational schools, usually 
of the commercial-normal type. No subject should be included 
in the curriculum of schools of this type simply on the ground 
that it is at present considered necessary as preparatory to col- 
lege. On this principle such subjects as higher mathematics and 
ancient history, used in the traditional classical sense, would be 



96 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

excluded. These tend to create a divisive factor in school life, 
the result of which is likely to be an unnatural crowding of the 
"more honorable" college preparatory course by students with no 
real college hopes. The college course should be so planned as 
to give the occupationally trained men the same standing as the 
college preparatory students. Thus there being no handicap in 
taking an occupational course, and no loss of prestige by not tak- 
ing some other sort of course, all students will take one of the 
occupational courses, and those who do not go on to college will 
go out into life prepared to render real service, to understand 
the social and ethical values of their particular callings, and with 
a sense of gratitude toward the institution. 

173. The difficulties in connection with agricultural and in- 
dustrial arts schools are much greater, except where college courses 
are given in Chinese. On account of the large amount of time 
given to technical instruction it is doubtful whether these schools 
can prepare students to take college work in English. Even the 
normal graduates from such schools may find it impossible to take 
college work in English. It will be necessary for the colleges to 
ofifer a prepaiatory year for the students from these schools. 

The colleges should have a plan which will enable grad- 
uates from commercial-normal schools to enter college on a par 
with college preparatory graduates, and for agricultural and in- 
dustrial arts school graduates to do likewise after a preparatory 
year in English. 

VI. Middle Schools for Girls 

174. The great majority of girls go from the middle schools 
directly into home-making, teaching, or some form of social and 
religious service. An increasing number are, however, going on 
to further study in college, normal school, medical school, nurses' 
training school, Bible training school, or training school for physi- 
cal directors. A few enter the business world as clerks, or sten- 
ographers, or in similar positions. 

175. Almost all Chinese girls become home-makers, either 
immediately after leaving school or a few years later. Every school 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 97 

for girls ought, therefore, to aim to prepare its students to be 
good wives and mothers, and to make happy homes. Domestic 
science and household economics are subjects of fundamental 
importance. The study of food values, of balanced diets, the care 
and discipline of children, first aid, hygiene, sanitation, and the 
treatment of illnesses should, in our judgment, be included in the 
curricula of all middle schools for girls. Intelligence along these 
lines is of even greater importance in China than in countries 
where there is far more general knowledge of such matters. A 
simple model home in which a few girls live for a time, assuming 
full responsibility for everything in connection with it, is a valu- 
able addition to the class-room study of home-making subjects. 
The partial responsibility of the older girls for little girls has, in 
some schools, proved to be a useful training in the care of chil- 
dren. Observation of kindergarten work has also proved valuable 
in demonstrating methods of teaching and dealing with little 
children. 

We recommend that all middle schools for girls include 
courses in domestic science and household economics, and that 
some schools specialize along these lines. 

176. A large number of the graduates of middle schools for 
girls will teach in the interim between graduation and marriage, 
and a g. owing number are continuing to teach after marriage. One 
of the most urgent needs in . China to-day is for well trained 
teachers for elementary schools. Christian, government, and pri- 
vate. Graduates of middle schools, who have received some nor- 
mal training, have done excellent work in elementary schools. 
Christian middle schools for girls can render service of immeas- 
urable value, by furnishing elementary schools, Christian and non- 
Christian, with teachers of thorough training and strong Christian 
character. 

Girls may be trained to teach in elementary schools, either 
in union normal schools, or in normal courses in middle schools. 
See the Chapters on Education of Teachers (Section 2251!") and 
Education of Women (Sections 4i9fTf). 

In view of the great need of women teachers in elemen- 



98 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

tary schools, the large proportion of middle school graduates 
who will enter the teaching profession, and the fact that all mothers 
need at least some knowledge of teaching methods, all middle 
schools for girls should probably include courses on education, 
and should provide for practice teaching under supervision. It 
is our judgment, however, that there should be, in every center, one 
strong normal school for girls. In most cases this should prob- 
ably be a union school, all the missions concerned uniting to make 
it a thoroughly strong institution. There may, however, be some 
situations in which it may be wise to assign to the schools of one 
mission the responsibility of doing this work for all. 

177. Every middle school for girls should offer courses which 
will prepare its students to be good citizens and to render useful 
service in their communities. Such courses should not only hold 
up high ideals, but should also be very definite and practical in 
the teaching concerning needs and the methods of meeting them. 
Actual service for the people of the neighborhood should also be 
a part of school life. 

All Christian schools for girls are giving courses in religious 
education. No part of the curriculum should be more carefully 
planned, and no subject demands stronger teaching. See the Chap- 
ter on Religious Education (Sections 459ff). These subjects are, 
and should be, a part of every student's work, and special 
provision should be made for the training of those girls who 
plan to go into some form of religious service upon leaving the 
middle school. This may sometimes be done most effectively in 
a separate school, similar to the school for the training of teachers. 

178. Inasmuch as the number of girls who go from middle 
school to college is comparatively small, in proportion to those 
who immediately enter the home or the school room, the prepara- 
tion of students for college should not be the determining factor 
in the planning of middle school curricula. On the other hand, 
the number of girls who desire to go on to college is steadily in- 
creasing, and it is important that they be thoroughly prepared. 
In a center where there are several middle schools for girls it 
might be well for the missions supporting them to consider devel- 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 99 

oping each along a different line, one school preparing girls for 
college, another for teaching, another emphasizing domestic science, 
a fourth, perhaps, specializing on preparation for social and reli- 
gious service. In some centers, it may be wise to consider the 
uniting of all girls' middle schools into one school, thus securing 
an institution large enough and strong enough to offer several 
elective courses within itself. 

Whatever specific plan may be followed, we recommend the 
closest possible coordination between the Christian girls' middle 
schools of each center, to the end that waste and duplication may 
be avoided, and the varying needs of Chinese girls met as ade- 
quately and completely as possible. The needs and opportunities 
of to-day demand specialization, thoroughness, and a high degree 
of effectiveness. These cannot be secured if four or five schools 
with only moderately adequate equipment and staff, are all trying 
to meet all the needs of Chinese girls. The uniting of forces, or 
the division of responsibility, will on the other hand make possible 
the meeting of a greater number of needs, in a far more effective 
way. 

VII. The Improvement of the Christian Middle Schools 

179. For each individual church or mission to have its own 
middle school may be a good policy from its point of view, but 
this plan makes difficulties for the smaller missions and churches. 
Moreover it is not desirable to attempt to develop as many middle 
schools in a given area as this would sometimes mean. When the 
development of a middle school, by a denomination, would result 
in wasteful duplication, or in competition for students, such a 
plan would clearly be a mistake. The wisest policy would be to 
share in some existing or proposed union school. It is the opin- 
ion of the Commission that middle schools have grown up in many 
places where the strengthening of an existing nearby school of 
another mission, would have been far better for the Christian 
cause, and that in other centers where strong middle schools 
would have a great opportunity, depleted resources have left 
schools weak and far too few. In general there has been little 



100 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

coordinating and uniting of forces. The problem in each area 
should be dealt with thoroughly and from a broadly Christian 
and economical standpoint, with full regard for the best interests 
of the smaller denominations as well as for the piobable resources 
and opportunities of all. A mission should be slow to declare 
its school a middle school unless its future as such is sure, its 
constituency large, and its place in the Christian school system 
not in the least a competitive one. The success of a school is not 
to be judged by the step in the ladder to which it can manage to 
drag a few pupils, but by the number and preparation of the stu- 
dents it turns out at whatever stage it finds it ought to release 
them and admit more in their places lower down. 

1 80. A school is unwise to continue carrying small classes 
rather than to send them on to another school, or out into life. 
When a class dwindles to less than fifteen pupils it is probably 
time to discontinue this grade, and bestow the energy thus re- 
leased upon a larger class of pupils of lower grade. The nearest 
good stopping place above or below, should be chosen as the ob- 
jective of the school, and occupational training put into the last 
year or two of the course thus fixed, unless the school feeds 
directly into some other vocational school with small loss of pupils. 
This presents a difficult problem to the struggling country board- 
ing school with few or no senior middle school students. Its type 
and future should be decided primarily in the interests of its 
constituency, the development of the church, and the general in- 
terests of the whole community. 

Most higher primary schools, now giving no occupa- 
tional work and little general preparation for life, and many 
struggling middle schools of similar character, should become 
clean-cut, effective, and well-taught junior middle schools with 
genuine training for life, several of which should feed into some 
one large senior middle school. Full-fledged middle schools and 
also some, now called colleges, should become senior middle schools 
of one of the definite types described above, in most cases having 
junior middle schools attached. 

181. The question of the size of schools has been frequently 



SECONDARY EDUCATION loi 

raised. This is entirely a question of administration and finance. 
It is possible for one principal so to organize his well selected and 
trained stafif as to bring a thousand students into contact with 
the best personalities, but it is doubtful if such a principal or staff 
is often found. A school of over two hundred requires one or 
more asssistant principals or proctors in addition to an office sec- 
retary. Efficiency requires the addition of needed assistants at the 
right points and the bringing of the student body up to as near 
capacity as possible at each stage. 

Economy in finance would also call for larger classes. 
Twenty-five or thirty is not too large for effective teaching. It is 
expensive to offer two or three types of work when classes would 
thus be split up into small ones. The smaller the school the more 
concentration is demanded. 

182, If schools are to change from the old plan of seven 
3'ears elementary (lower primary four and higher primary three) 
and four years middle school, to the new plan of six years ele- 
mentary and three years each of junior and of senior middle 
school, in Christian schools : 

a. The additional year should be given to securing better 
work in the lower grades rather than added to the present gradua- 
tion standards, or at least such a policy should be followed in so far 
as government school standards permit. 

b. Opportunity should thus be taken to make arithmetic 
more thorough and effective, greatly to increase physical and 
health education, to reduce class-room work, to give another year 
of Chinese reading and composition, history, civics, geography, 
practical arts, manual work, and general science. 

c. It would seem best to begin the study of English with 
the first year of the junior middle school, but in this particular, 
and in all subjects, the government curriculum should be fol- 
lowed. 

VIII. Middle School Objectives and Curricula 

183. The first aim of Christian education is to develop char- 
acter. This means three things : first, sincerity, truth-seeking. 



102 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

honesty of thought and action; second, sympathy, love, and a 
spirit of service; third, the habit of right endeavor, the will to 
proceed strenuously, the mental energy that nerves one to do his 
best, and faith to attempt to do God's will in the world. 

This requires first of all a wholesome school life, a 
Christian atmosphere, genuine work, justice, law and order, and 
much contact with people of Christ-like spirit. It requires also 
definite instruction in ethics and religion, and in how to apply 
this teaching in life. 

An adequate and strong stafif is therefore essential. This 
is of special importance for students of middle school age. Middle 
school staffs must be strengthened, in order that there may be 
more teachers of strong personality and fine Christian spirit to 
live close to the students, to talk and eat and play with them, to work 
with them as well as for them, and to join with them in their 
school activities and social service. 

Advantage must also be taken of the special opportuni- 
ties that good teachers have to give training in honesty, serious- 
ness of purpose, ethical judgment and attitude, and the spirit of 
patriotic and social service which arises in connection with, and 
largely gives justification for, such class-room subjects as science, 
manual training, history, civics, geography, education, and religion. 

It is extremely important that there be an adequate num- 
ber of teachers, especially Chinese teachers, of the best possible 
training and ability, to specialize on the religious training of stu- 
dents and to teach the subjects named above. Teachers should not 
be so overburdened with class-room or other work as to prevent 
their giving adequate time and strength to helpful personal con- 
tacts with students. A Christian school which fails to exert a 
strong and effective Christian influence upon its students has no 
sufficient reason for existence. Too many schools have failed at 
precisely this point. 

The amount of time which should be given to class-room 
instruction in religion is less important than the extent to which 
the students catch the Christian spirit, the loyalty with which they 
stand for their convictions in the world, and the generosity with 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 103 

which they spend their strength in Christian service for their 
people after they leave school. Such problems as the desirability 
of daily Bible study, required chapel attendance, the urging of 
students to unite with the church, should be made the subject of 
frequent and thorough discussion in meetings of teachers and 
principals. 

184. An important aim of education is the acquiring of good 
health and the knowledge and habits that promote it. ( See Chap- 
ter on Physical Education, Sections 51 iff.) Only the development 
of character is more important. 

A physical director should be included in the staff of 
every middle school, whether for boys or girls. We believe this to 
be absolutely necessary. The physical director has an influence 
on the life of the student, almost invariably strong, and high char- 
acter is, therefore, as important as good training. It is de- 
sirable, also, that as many of the other teachers as possible be 
able to share in the physical education and recreation of the 
students. 

Classroom instruction should include practical hygiene 
and some physiology. It should also include some knowledge of 
the diseases common to the Orient, home remedies, first aid or 
home surgery ; of care of children, sex hygiene, narcotics, poisons 
and stimulants; of foods and cooking, clothing and personal hy- 
giene; of boards of health, home and city sanitation, and, it 
may be added, of the importance and nobility of the medical 
profession. 

This instruction is all so important that it should be put 
early in the program of studies, in order that all may receive it, 
and any who have missed it should be required to make it up. It 
is probable that an equivalent of one hundred and twenty periods 
is about the amount which should be given to such instruction in 
junior or senior middle schools. 

185. A third objective of education is the giving of the gen- 
eral information and mental training most likely to be of value 
in several lines of activity. This should take precedence over the 
specialized training to be described later. This general training 



104 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

includes language (oral, written, and printed), elementary mathe- 
matics, general information, knowledge of people and affairs. 

This means, first of all, a good command of Chinese; 
ability to speak well in the native dialect and also in Mandarin; 
ability to read newspapers, letters, and common documents ; abil- 
ity to write letters, bills, receipts, deeds, reports, descriptions, 
directions, straightforward narratives, and ordinary notices and 
advertisements in both modern Wenli and in Mandarin. Good 
handwriting is also important. If this requires more than a period 
a day throughout the middle school, it should be given, probably 
double quantity at first and less later on. The best teachers avail- 
able should be secured. 

The work in mathematics should give, in addition to a 
ready use of the abacus, an ability to handle the common mathe- 
matical problems of life, such as money changing, making up and 
settling bills, interest and discount, exchange, measuring and 
weighing, simple algebraic processes, and a knowledge of construct- 
ive geometry useful in drawing. This ought not to require more 
than a period a day for two years, beyond the mastery of common 
fractions, decimals and percentage. 

General intelligence and a knowledge of people and 
affairs are, of course, to be secured, partly from incidental sources. 
If however, three-fourths of a pupil's life from the first year of the 
junior middle school on is spent in a boarding school, the school 
must provide most of the education along these lines, even that 
which comes incidentally. This will be discussed later. Most of 
a student's fund of information is, however, to be obtained from 
a study of the subjects named below. 

The geography and history of China are of primary im- 
portance. This should include a knowledge and appreciation of, 
and real interest in, China's early and present conditions ; its peo- 
ple, their origin and distinguishing characteristics, its productSj 
its business and commerce, its government and customs, its 
possibilities and problems. This will require approximately 
four periods a week throughout junior and senior middle 
school. Another branch of general information needed by the 



SECONDARY EDUCATION 105 

average man or woman has to do with such matters as food, 
clothing, shelter, plants, animals, materials, metals, tools, appli- 
ances, physical and chemical principles, machinery, transportation, 
and weather. These may be organized under the heading "gen- 
eral science" and should be given approximately one period a day 
through the junior middle school, and one year of the senior 
middle school. The amount of time given this subject will vary 
according to the previous training of the pupils, their environ- 
ment, and the amount of handwork taught. 

A knowledge of the social, governmental and economic 
order in which our lives are cast is also essential. This is not 
adequately secured by incidental methods. It should form part of 
a course in civics or else be given by special instruction in con- 
nection with ethics, or geography and history. 

The incidental education which the student secures out- 
side of school may be very meagre. The school should therefore 
provide as many and as varied opportunities as possible, for the 
securing of such education. School gardens, pets, books, music, 
entertainments, social hours, athletics, recreation, and the oppor- 
tunity to study the life about them by trips to industrial plants, 
philanthropic and educational institutions, and other points of 
interest, are all valuable means to this end. 

186. A fourth objective of education is the giving of occupa- 
tional training. This falls under several heads. The following 
list will serve merely to indicate the nature of some of them : 

a. Commercial Courses 

b. Clerical Courses. 

c. Industrial Arts Courses. 

d. Normal Courses. 

e. Agricultural Courses (Sections 360-362). 

f. Home Economics and Practical Arts Courses. 

187. Another important function of education is the training 
of boys and girls to be members of a home. Most of the training 
outlined under character training, physical education, and general 
education for life, contributes to this end, but there is also need 
of special training. 



io6 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

1 88. The sixth aim of education, the production of good citi- 
zens, will also be in some measure met by the subjects given above, 
especially those related to character formation, but definite instruc- 
tion is also needed. A sense of membership in a community 
carrying real responsibilities with it, should be developed in every 
student. Instruction is needed in such subjects as democratic 
forms of government, civic associations, boards of health, public 
education, the sacredness of public property, and respect for law. 
The course in civics is particularly intended to give such instruc- 
tion, and other features of school life and training should be 
included. 

189. Important, but not to be given at the sacrifice of the 
objectives named above, is trainmg for the use of leisure time 
and the enjoyment of life in general. This is often neglected. 
Yet a better appreciation of the real satisfactions that are to be 
had as our lives develop into ever higher and broader spheres, 
would make all of life more useful and effective. 

Students should learn a greater measure of appreciation 
of the social side of vocations, of the dignity of labor, of the value 
of the individual, of the wonder of life, of the glories of nature, 
of the usefulness of recreation and travel, of the greatness of the 
universe, of the marvels of science, of the power and use of man's 
mind, of the beauty of human friendship, music, art, literature. 
Subjects which will increase appreciation of the value of all these 
things should be included in the program of studies, and 
school life should be so organized as to contribute to this end. 
Among the subjects which may be so taught as to achieve this 
result are Chinese and English literature, and the social 
sciences. 

190. To attain the objectives outlined above, and to keep the 
right emphases and proportions, calls for a most careful re- 
study of the curriculum of the middle school. Experimentation 
and conference on the part of those in charge of middle schools 
is of supreme importance. It will take time and thought, and the 
careful balancing of values, to determine the curriculum which 
will best meet the multiple needs of the boys and girls in Christian 



SFXONDARY EDUCATION 107 

middle schools in China to-day, but it is probably safe to say, that 
no problem of Christian education is more urgent than this. 

In the meantime, much can be done by individual schools. 
Comparatively slight rearrangement of subjects, changed emphases, 
and a new content put into subjects already taught, will do much 
to make the work of many schools more effective. 

191. The curriculum regulations of the government are now 
in process of reconstruction. When they are settled, it will prob- 
ably be wise for the Christian schools to follow these regulations 
as closely as is possible without sacrificing the achievement of 
their own fundamental aims and purposes. 

192. Much excellent literature on the modern problem study, 
and project methods, has become available in recent years. These 
indicate the principles to be followed in the organization of sub- 
ject matter, and will give much help in the reconstruction of 
subjects of study. 

193. The establishment of standards and the cooperation of 
middle schools in many matters are highly important. It is recom- 
mended that the China Christian Educational Association give spe- 
cial attention to the organization of a department which shall 
undertake a nation-wide standardization and improvement of Chris- 
tian middle schools. The aim should be not to make all schoolr 
alike, but to bring all to a common high standard of effectiveness. 

IX. Summary of Recommendations 

(i). There should be an immediate and strong development 
of the middle school as the center of the educational system. 

(2). This grade of education should not only be related to life 
in general, but each course should also be occupational in character 
and, at the same time, prepare students for higher education. 

(3). Teacher-training is the most essential type of occupa- 
tional training for the Christian system. 

(4). The commercial-normal middle school will meet the 
needs of the largest number of the boys of large towns and cities. 

(5). The agricultural-industrial-normal school for the coun- 



lo8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

try and the industrial-normal school for the city should be de- 
veloped wherever possible. 

(6). More emphasis should be given to home-life training 
and normal training in girls' schools. 

(7). The concentration of middle school efifort into larger 
and stronger schools is urged. 

(8). The curriculum should be constructed on modern lines 
for the achievement of the definite objectives outlined in this 
chapter, 

(9). Cooperative organization for the standardization and 
improvement of middle schools, and their relation to each other 
is urgently required. 



CHAPTER III 

COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 

I. The Genesis of the Christian College 

194. Some of the Christian colleges were established pri- 
marily with the thought of training ministers and other Christian 
leaders. In other instances the controlling idea may have been 
the crowning of a denominational system of schools, and the 
desire to provide higher education for the sons and daughters of 
Christian parents. Others again came into being out of a more 
general aim to enlarge the sphere of Christian influence, to inter- 
pret, through this method, the meaning of the Christian message 
for the Chinese people, and by furnishing young men and women 
equipped with modern knowledge and imbued with Christian ideals, 
to contribute toward the progress and prosperity of the Chinese 
people. All have sought to lead their students to the acceptance of 
Jesus Christ as Master and Saviour. On the whole, the colleges 
have been able to achieve a large measure of success in these 
various aims. They have been the pioneers of modern collegiate 
education in China, and have supplied many of her most valuable 
leaders in government, industry, education and religion. 

195. Their very conception was in more than one case a 
daring adventure of faith and a significant instance of Christian 
idealism and international good will. A college undertaking forty- 
three years ago to share with Chinese boys the best that America 
had to give in knowledge, and located in so strategic a place as 
Shanghai ; a university founded in a far-away center, a month's 
hard travel from Shanghai, uniting all the Christian forces, 

109 



no CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

national, sectarian, educational, in West China; a great western 
university reproducing its best life in an inland and one-time 
strongly anti-foreign but richly cultured province; such achieve- 
ments reveal a vision and a moral energy which are an earnest 
of the potentialities in the w^hole system of Christian education 
in China. 

II. Recent Developments 

196. The' mission college quite naturally modelled its curri- 
culum and activities upon the traditional western type. There 
were no Chinese standards; the immediate objectives were too 
insistent to permit of much experimentation ; resources were lim- 
ited; the majority of the men called upon to organise, administer 
or teach in them had not come to China to do educational work, 
and had had little or no technical training; policies had become 
conventionahzed. Each had grown up out of a denominational or 
sectional need, and was intended to serve its own mission or local 
constituency, with little, if any, thought of a comprehensive pro- 
gram for all China or of the exacting demands that would arise 
in the future. Since then changes have come which have materially 
affected the situation: 

a. The fading of western denominational interests and 
the tendency toward a united Chinese church, with the result that 
separate colleges exist largely because of administrative conve- 
nience rather than living, distinctive principles. 

b. The increasing ease and rapidity of communication, 
with the result that colleges are now as many hours apart as they 
were days, and students have ceased to consider distance from home 
or provincial lines in deciding what college to attend. 

c. The growing interest in vocational education, which 
has forced the colleges to introduce occupational courses, involving 
a constantly augmenting financial burden, needless reduplication, 
opportunist or fortuitous departures, and undesirable competition. 

d. The founding of broadly conceived government and 
private universities with relatively large potential resources. Under 
the leadership of able and public-spirited Chinese, usually with 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION in 

better and more modern technical training in western education 
than missionary •administrators, with larger freedom, with the 
appeal they can make to the commendable national pride of stu- 
dents and supporters, these universities have introduced a standard 
of comparison which must be more seriously reckoned with in the 
future, though it is already more important than is generally 
recognized. Christian educators ought to rejoice in the evidence 
thus furnished of China's ability and intention to develop a system 
of government and private education in line with the finest modern 
tendencies. In so far as our institutions have aided or may here- 
after aid in the rise and efficient management of such colleges, 
the purpose for which ours exist is being realized. But. if mission 
colleges are to maintain a sufficient and harmonious place in 
Chinese life, there must be some radical adjustments. 

197. There are at present sixteen institutions maintained 
by missionary societies, claiming to do work of full college grade. 
The enrollment of these institutions in college classes varies from 
less than twelve to about three hundred. Two of these are exclu- 
sively for women, while several others admit women, or include a 
college for women. This number is not large in proportion to the 
whole population of China. But in view of the total available 
resources the maintenance of all these schools with their present 
variety of courses and consequent duplication of effort, for a 
limited number of students, is unjustifiable economically. Some of 
those schools should be closed or their character changed. 

198. The government, with its greater resources and re- 
sponsibilities, contemplates only four universities, and it is inter- 
esting to note that one powerful church, which has done careful 
thinking on an all-China educational policy, has limited itself to 
cooperation in four union universities, realizing the futility of 
attempting the task on any other basis. The China IMedical Board 
of the Rockefeller Foundation, after determining to establish two 
medical schools in China, limited itself to one, on the ground that 
it could not afford the cost of two. A report issued by the 
American Association of Colleges arrives at the conclusion that 
maximum efficiency in proportion to cost is reached with an enroll- 



112 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ment of about five hundred students. It is frequently argued that 
the personal relations, the moral atmosphere and religious influ- 
ences are more potent in the small college. But, in the modern 
sense, our largest mission universities have very small enroll- 
ments, and personal contact between teachers and students is 
after all not so much a question of size as of organization. No 
unprejudiced person will challenge the statement that the total 
amount of money and man-power poured annually with such splen- 
did intent into Christian higher education in China could be redis- 
tributed to the immensely greater effectiveness of the Christian 
movement, and with greater benefit to the Chinese people. 

199. One of the commonest criticisms made by graduates of 
mission colleges, and other Chinese observers, is that they do not 
fit students for life. Because of economic pressure and the social 
structure of China almost every student attends college primarily 
from a desire to increase his earning capacity. His education 
usually is an investment by the family for their common welfare. 
The effort to produce church workers, the lack of original think- 
ing, the relative ease of securing students, an inadequate appreci- 
ation of the social function of Christian missions, are among the 
causes which have prevented greater attention to the occupational 
aspect of education. Even where the majority of the students were 
known to be headed for teaching, they have been, as a rule, given 
only the content of subjects without sufficient attention to teaching 
method. The opportunity to learn English has been indeed a great 
attraction to the student from a purely occupational and utilitarian 
point of view. So much has this been the case, that the courses 
offered for their value in giving a liberal culture were regarded as 
and became little more than opportunities for practice in English, 
the acquirement of which brought prompt remuneration and easy 
promotion in business careers. Even this concession to the legiti- 
mate occupational ambition of the students has in many cases only 
prepared them for clerical positions of minor influence, either from 
the point of view of the creation of a strong Christian community 
or the welfare of the nation. But the attempt to introduce techni- 
cal courses on the present unrelated basis means increasing cost 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 113 

and competition. Every new feature, however alluring and inex- 
pensive or even profitable it may have seemed at first, is in danger 
of involving larger and larger operating expense for the originating 
college, and probably an attempt on the part of others to keep up 
with the pace. 

200. These institutions were from the nature of the case 
begun by western missionaries, supported by western gifts, pro- 
tected by treaties with western powers, permitted for the same 
reason to make any pretensions or maintain any standards which 
those in charge of them happened to prefer, and chartered often 
under western legal requirements. Whatever may have been true 
in the past, it is these aspects rather than their distinctively religious 
characteristics which are preventing their receiving heartier wel- 
come and recognition and larger Chinese support. One of their 
most serious defects is in the small number of Chinese on the 
staflf who are qualified to be in any real sense the colleagues of the 
foreign teachers or to hold positions of administrative responsibility. 
Although it may be said that there are not as yet many Chinese 
of this type available, yet this cannot be the only explanation. The 
reasons usually given by Chinese for this state of things are: the 
desire of missionaries to keep control of policy ; too little freedom 
or leisure for growth; inadequate salaries; the limited scope for 
useful service in the relatively petty program of the mission col- 
lege. Other factors that enter in are : the fact that it is always 
easier to get a new appointee from the home board than funds for 
paying high-salaried Chinese; unhappy experiences with Chinese 
who have been tried out and have brought disappointment ; their 
unwillingness to endure the contumely of their friends and the 
necessary restrictions of such service; lingering, if unconscious, 
racial predilections on the part of foreign executives and their 
slowness to sense the Chinese conception of what is involved in 
proper treatment; the difficulty of inspiring promising students 
with the highest Christian ideals. These comments are not made 
in any critical spirit. Anyone who has had the slightest acquaint- 
ance with the problem will feel hearty sympathy with those in 
charge of college administration, and with the Chinese who would 



114 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

be wanted in such positions. Many of the difficulties are inherent 
in the situation. None the less the strikingly small proportion of 
Chinese in executive or responsible teaching positions is a damag- 
ing weakness, and until it is remedied the colleges will continue to 
be regarded by many of the Chinese with indifference or dislike, 
as a foreign element in their national life. 

201. It would be expected that tbe religious instruction would 
be the finest element in the course, but it has often been the least 
satisfactory, the courses being taught by those who were not needed 
or fitted, for other subjects, or were too busy to prepare fresh and 
inspiring material. The attempt has too commonly been made to 
accomplish by quantity and compulsion what can be produced only 
by quality and much thought on the method of teaching and the 
real needs of the students. 



III. Constructive Proposals 

202. It is not a question of what might be planned if we were 
starting de novo, and with ample funds available for any scheme 
proposed. We have to deal with the actual situation. The existing 
institutions all have or are constructing physical plants representing 
more or less costly investments ; they have their respective constitu- 
encies at home and their alumni and mission or other local relation- 
ships on the field ; their traditions, attachments, mutual jealousies 
or fears, varying national, doctrinal, ecclesiastical, or educational 
standards. There are real geographical, linguistic, economic and 
other factors which do not appear on the surface. The question 
cannot be solved by any doctrinaire treatment. Nevertheless, an 
improvement in the present status is imperative, and is earnestly 
desired by many of those responsible for administering the colleges. 

203. Unless measures that commend themselves to those in 
charge are speedily proposed, it is to be feared that efforts to 
remedy the situation will come too late to be effective. In the 
judgment of the Commission, improvement is to be sought through 
coordination and limitation or modification of function, with con- 
sequent increase in total efficiency, rather than in the extensive 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 115 

uprooting of institutions which are the product of much toil and 
sacrifice and are deeply rooted in the soil of China. 

In addition to other weighty reasons, this policy is com- 
mended by prospective financial considerations. To continue the 
lead of the past, the colleges and universities of the Christian 
forces in China must face greatly increased cost. Professional 
work is more expensive than non-professional ; present libraries 
and equipment are far below the standard required ; and salaries, 
especially of the Chinese, will need to be materially increased. So 
great will be the need for increased support that we must prepare 
to face the certain choice either (a) of restriction of work, (b) 
greatly enlarged support, or (c) more economical use of funds. 

204. Having in mind (i) the meagre state of development 
which higher education, in particular Christian education, has yet 
reached in China; (2) the urgent and unlimited need of China for 
men prepared for definite tasks, and the limited need as yet of the 
scholar of leisure and general tastes; (3) the limited resources 
both of the government and of the Christian forces, but especially 
of the latter; (4) the greater energy with which experience has 
proved that students devote themselves to work in preparation 
for a future occupation as compared with that of students pursuing 
the same studies without an occupational goal ; ( 5 ) the capacity 
of studies pursued with an occupational purpose to give mental 
discipline and genuine culture if conducted in the right atmos- 
phere and spirit; (6) the necessity on the other hand that pro- 
fessional or higher occupational studies be pursued upon a solid 
basis of a knowledge of the subjects requisite to the prosecution 
of work for any profession; and (7) the undesirable results of 
too early specialization or differentiation of study with reference 
to future occupation, we recommend : 

a. That the college course be planned for four years fol- 
lowing the proposed new scheme of six years elementary and six 
years secondary study, but with a special preparatory year in- 
tended for those who for any reason have been inadequately pre- 
pared. Entrance to college should presuppose at least six years 
of daily study of English, and good training in Chinese, with a 



ii6 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

range of alternative requirements in other subjects, such as will 
allow the middle schools greater freedom for direct vocational 
and other courses of the kind which should be planned for the 
majority of students who may not enter college. 

b. That the first two years of the four be in general 
preparatory for the more specific professional or general cultural 
courses of later years. There should be the least possible measure 
of differentiation between courses preparatory to the several lines 
of professional work. It may be expedient in some cases that 
occupational work begin in the junior college, either being con- 
cluded in that college or continued one or more years in the senior 
college. No stress is laid on the use of the terms junior and 
senior college ; they are employed here for convenience and 
brevity, 

c. That except in one or two institutions no prominence 
be given to the so-called arts course consisting" of studies pursued 
for general culture or in preparation for professional work begin- 
ning after the completion of the college course. 

d. That in general in the senior college each institution 
offer and emphasize courses preparatory to a limited number of 
professions, choosing these with reference to the specific needs 
of the community in its region, and the opportunities offered by 
other colleges accessible to its students. 

e. That, since the preparation for any profession should 
not be narrowly technical, but should include subjects such as 
history, ethics, sociology and religion, which give breadth of out- 
look and insight into those problems a knowledge of which is 
essential to men of all professions, the colleges provide courses in 
these subjects in addition to those which are requisite for the 
particular professions for which they undertake to prepare their 
students. 

f. That to the list of subjects thus required to give a 
broad preparation for a profession the college add only such sub- 
jects as can be given without increase of the faculty necessary 
for these courses. 

g. That subject to proper regulations respecting required 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 117 

studies, and the selection of a major subject, the student who has 
not chosen his profession, or who especially desires a longer course 
of preparation for the professional course, or who contemplates 
further study abroad, be permitted to select studies from more 
than one professional group. 

h. That the courses recommended for the several pro- 
fessions vary in length according to the nature and requirements 
of the profession. 

i. That the A.B. degree be given after the completion of 
four years of successful college study in any of the courses offered. 
205. In the judgment of the Commission Christian colleges 
in China are only to a limited extent prepared to offer work which 
emphasizes research in the more strict sense of that term. Research 
in the broad sense, in which it covers not only the discovery of 
new data and the deduction from these data of new conclusions, 
but also the study and interpretation of data already established, 
is a vital function of all higher education, if indeed it should 
not run through the whole educational process. Such research 
is especially necessary in China in order to illumine the goals 
at which the teaching of special subjects ought to aim, and to 
correct the tendency to accept opinions on the ground of tra- 
dition or authority. It is essential that at least all senior college 
professors and lecturers should have leisure for research of this 
kind, that it should be regarded as an essential part of their work, 
and that some of their students should be instructed in research 
methods. 

But it remains true that for the present and immediate 
future, (post) -graduate schools characterized by research in the 
strictest sense of investigation of unsolved problems are almost 
wholly beyond the scope of Christian education. In medicine, re- 
search of this kind may well go on in connection with professional 
training, especially in a school so exceptionally equipped as that at 
Peking. For special reasons we are recommending the early 
founding of an Institute of Educational Research (Sections 100, 
251-258) and an Institute of Social Research (Section 377). But 
we believe that this precedent should be followed in other cases 



iiS CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

with great caution. We have builded our educational tower high 
enough, not well enough, for the present. Schools for advanced 
research in most subjects must be left to the future. See Sections 

554-557- 

In a measure to compensate for the lack of graduate 
schools of research in China, it is desirable that there be established 
a limited number of research fellowships to be awarded for ex- 
ceptional excellence in the A. B. course. Recipients of these fel- 
lowships might pursue studies in Europe or America or, when the 
field of investigation is some phase of Chinese life, in China under 
the guidance of the teacher most competent to direct these studies. 
206. We advise th? colleges not to undertake more lines of 
professional work or ofifer a larger number of subjects than they 
can conduct thoroughly well. The value of an education is not 
measured by the range of studies from among which the student 
chooses, nearly so much as it is by the character of the work which 
is offered in the courses taken. Still less is it increased in the 
ratio of the schools or departments which the college advertises. 
We therefore advise that a college, offering a limited range of 
studies, do not break these studies or its faculty into separate 
schools or colleges. If, for example, a college is offering courses 
preparatory to teaching and to preaching, the courses in both cases 
including studies of a general character, and is also permitting a 
student to pursue a general arts course by selecting his studies 
from the entire list offered, we advise that the college do not adver- 
tise schools or senior colleges of theology, of education, and of 
arts, but instead announce all the courses in one list grouped 
according to subject, such as, history, sociology, religion. The 
student should indicate the occupation which he expects to enter, 
or further study which he expects to pursue, and be guided by 
advice, printed and oral, concerning the studies which are required 
of all students, and those which are best adapted to prepare him 
for his future occupation or study. This course is recommended 
as less likely than the other to develop ambition on the part of 
the faculty to build up separate schools, increasing expense but 
without corresponding improvement of the educational work, and 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 119 

less likely to lead the students to pursue a course of general study- 
without definite objective. As indicated above it is our judgment 
that all students completing four years of college work according 
to the standards and requirements of the college should receive 
the same degree. In order to secure the proper emphasis on voca- 
tional courses, there may be a committee (or board) of the faculty 
on each recognized group of studies, e. g., education, theology, arts, 
with a chairman who should be adviser of the students pursuing 
that group. 

It would seem that a college having an enrollment of not 
more than one hundred students should limit itself to one profes- 
sional course or two at the most. Classes should not be opened 
for less than eight or ten students. 

207. A careful study of the figures in that section of the 
Chapter on Cost of Education, which has to do with colleges, 
will reveal facts which should be of great assistance to Mission 
Boards and controlling bodies on the field in determining future 
policy. See Sections 680-686. 

208. In view of the costly and extensive plants erected in a 
few instances either where there had been insufficient attention 
to the needs of the area as a whole or where the enrollment fails 
to justify such expenditure, each institution should hereafter 
undertake additional construction only after careful study and 
with the endorsement of the advisory council of the area. Mission 
Boards might well adopt the policy of conditioning grants for new 
buildings upon such endorsement. 

209. At least three different meanings of the word university 
are current : 

a. The somewhat pretentious usage in America of so 
naming a college doing only undergraduate work. 

b. The better American usage by which this is applied 
to a single institution conducting both college and (post) -graduate 
or professional schools, usually on one campus but always under 
one administration. This usage is found also in Great Britain. 

c. A British usage by which several separate and autono- 
mous colleges are formed into a university which functions through 



120 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

a senate or other representative body. Such a university may, as 
in the case of the University of Wales, have no existence apart 
from its constituent colleges, or, as in the case of Oxford, carry on 
certain activities in its corporate capacity. 

Some of the Christian colleges in China have apparently 
assumed the name university as indicative of aspirations rather 
than of actualities. It is suggested that in all such instances the 
name college be substituted. In this report the term university 
wherever it occurs in recommendations or suggestions is used in the 
British sense of a system of federated institutions of higher learn- 
ing, which may, however, also carry on certain work in their cor- 
porate capacity. 

210. In the light of the above discussion the Commission 
recommends : 

a. That higher Christian education in China be dealt 
with as a unit in which all nationalities and denominations shall 
participate, the interests of all being cared for in a single compre- 
hensive program, the controlling purpose being, with the total 
available strength, to exert the maximum impact upon Chinese life 
as a whole. 

b. That it be organized in six higher educational areas. 
East China, West China, North China, Central China, South 
China, and Fukien, and that, even if we are compelled to recognize 
that existing conditions prevent its immediate realization, yet the 
ideal be only one university in each area ; and that this ideal be re- 
garded as a practicable one to be striven for as rapidly as local 
and institutional considerations permit. 

c. That a college which cannot with its present resources 
conduct thoroughly first-class senior college work, which neither 
has, nor has reasonable prospect of obtaining in the near future, a 
senior college of at least fifty students, become a junior college, 
advising its students to go to the college where each can obtain the 
vocational training for which he seems best fitted. 

d. That a college which cannot meet these conditions for 
at least seventy-five students in its junior college classes become a 
strong middle school. In this connection attention is again called 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 121 

to the supreme importance to the Christian movement of maintain- 
ing more and better middle schools, the increased difficulty and 
importance of maintaining such schools on the proposed six years 
basis, and the relatively small share these schools now have of 
mission funds and qualified teachers. See Section 156 fif. 

e. That in each area coordination of the work of the 
several elements be effected through a university senate or ad- 
visory council, including in its membership representatives of all' 
the federated institutions. The powers of this senate should be 
advisory rather than legally compulsory, but each institution should 
present its plans of work to the senate for advice, and no depart- 
ment of work should be discontinued or added until the institution 
has first sought and obtained the advice of the senate. 

f. That there be a jointly maintained College Entrance 
Board, which shall conduct examinations and tests (preferably of 
the "comprehensive" type) in various parts of the country, with a 
view to admitting students to any college; or university in the 
association. This board should include members of educational 
associations, appointed to represent the middle school point of 
view. It ought to be sufficiently staffed to investigate the work and 
record of the different middle schools, and advise with them as to 
their respective deficiencies. See Sections 169-174. 

211. The following advantages would almost inevitably result 
from the plans proposed above : 

a. The moral effect upon the Chinese public would be 
desirable. The very fact of giving this convincing testimony to 
our essential oneness would be worth a large measure of loss and 
inconvenience to individual schools. Chinese Christian leaders 
and government educators have, without exception, endorsed the 
general plan of a smaller number of really strong colleges. 

b. It would also be of no slight help to the Chinese 
churches, now striving to realize a unity hitherto made difficult by 
the multiplicity of western agencies. Some such reduction would 
seem necessary if Chinese Christianity is to take over the support 
of so costly a system of education. 

c. The spiritual results on those in charge would alone 



122 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

justify the effort. At present, the strain due to attempting the 
task of doing what is expected of each, is telling upon the vitality 
of administrative officers, and is in danger of producing a mental 
attitude which can not but weaken their personal effectiveness. 
They and their faculty members are often too busy with routine 
tasks to exert that influence on the students for which the institu- 
tions largely exist. Some of their choicest members are kept in 
America for competing financial campaigns. 

d. Delimitation and wisely distributed specialization 
ought to result in each doing its less ambitious task much more 
efficiently. 

e. There would be more money and teachers available for 
other forms of educational or religious activity, including the 
supremely important but relatively inexpensive work in government 
schools. The release of qualified persons for direct moral and 
religious work among students in non-Christian schools, or the 
furnishing of teachers for such schools, would manifest a desire 
to be unselfishly helpful. The Chinese would be quick to appre- 
ciate such a policy, and it might count far more for the truest 
objectives of Christian education than the present policy. 

f. Extension work in the form of a series of popular 
lectures by a group of experts drawn from different colleges, 
going from one city to another in cooperation with the well 
equipped lecture department of the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation, offers large possibilities of widespread influence. 

212. The following suggestions on organization are offered: 

a. The Association of Christian Colleges and Universi- 
ties should take a leading part in putting into effect such policies as 
have been outlined and in advancing the common welfare of its 
members. 

b. This association should seek on the one hand a more 
clearly defined relation to the China Christian Educational Associa- 
tion, preferably becoming its department of higher education, and 
on the other establish a close connection with the senate, or advisory 
council, in each higher educational area. 

c. Arrangement should be made for the employment as 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 123 

soon as possible of at least one full time secretary, among whose 
functions would be: 

(i) Corresponding with the constituent schools. 

(2) Keeping comparative records. 

(3) Directing entrance examinations under a College 
Entrance Board, held in various parts of the country and conducted 
alike for every college in the association. 

(4) Publishing announcements describing the courses 
offered by the whole system of colleges, requirements, and fees, 
for the information of mission and government middle school 
students. 

(5) Cultivating Chinese, British, and American resi- 
dents in China with a view to securing their moral and financial 
support. 

(6) Maintaining a cooperative teachers' agency. 

(7) Studying government education and fostering cor- 
dial relations with government educational circles. 

(8) Serving as a medium for correspondence with the 
headquarters proposed in New York and London. 

213. The Association of Christian Colleges and Universi- 
ties might consider the advisability of recommending to the con- 
trolling boards in Great Britain and America the maintenance of 
joint headquarters in New York and London to serve their common 
interests. These controlHng boards might find it helpful to ap- 
point a joint committee or board composed largely of those who 
are at once in closest sympathy with the evangelistic purpose of 
Christian missions and experienced in educational problems, pre- 
ferably also with direct knowledge of China. This joint committee 
could serve in all such ways as might be found helpful, such as 
organizing financial campaigns, receiving and distributing such 
funds as are entrusted to it by Mission Boards or from other 
sources. Such campaigns should preserve to the utmost any 
interest in a particular institution that has been or may be developed 
and would be expected to utilize the advantage that comes from 
concrete or personal associations. Lists should be kept of all needs 
approved by the Association of Colleges and Universities in a 



124 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

preferred order. Mission Boards not responsible for the main- 
tenance of existing institutions might be induced to make annual 
grants to such a common fund, and an increasing number of the 
others might find it preferable to make their appropriations either 
through or with the advice of this joint committee. 

214. Mission Boards should be requested to study the total 
program of higher education in China and make grants with a view 
to the most efifective achievement of this total program, rather than 
in response to sectional or other subsidiary appeals. This does not 
mean that any Board should not provide chiefly or even exclusively 
for its denominational schools. If any such school is fitting into its 
proper place in the general scheme, the Board could contribute to 
the whole program in no way more helpfully than by giving it 
adequate support. 

IV. Regional Recommendations 

215. North China. — North China naturally engages our 
first attention. It has been a field of missionary activity for many 
years. Educational efiforts have centered chiefly at two points : 
Peking in Chili and Tsinan in Shantung. 

Any scheme of Christian education which omitted Peking 
or failed to give it a commanding place, would be fatally defective. 
This city is not only the capital of the Republic, as it was also 
the capital of the Empire for many generations, but in many 
respects it is the most important city in China. Here more than 
at any other point the new intellectual life of China finds its center 
and comes to expression. Here more than anywhere else the old 
traditional conceptions, the new non-Christian ideas flowing in 
from western countries, and the new leaven of Christianity will 
come into contact and conflict. Here it is essential that Chris- 
tianity should maintain a stronghold of enlightened Christian 
thought. 

It is recommended : 

a. That Peking University and Shantung Christian Uni- 
versity be incorporated so as to form a single Christian university 
for North China. 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 125 

b. That the combined university maintain in Peking a 
four-year college course including a junior college preparatory 
to literary and scientific professional courses, for which an ade- 
quate knowledge of English is a prerequisite; a general senior 
college course with special emphasis on the social sciences ; and a 
school of literature giving attention to translation and facility in 
writing in the new Chinese literary style. 

c. That the combined university maintain in Tsinan a 
junior college with pre-medical and other preparatory courses 
giving attention to the "national language"; the school of medi- 
cine with its present standards ; and a school of education, training 
primary and middle school teachers. These schools should in 
general use Chinese as the medium of instruction. 

d. That the combined university maintain a school of 
theology with two courses : ( i ) the one in Peking to continue from 
three to five years beyond junior college, requiring adequate 
knowledge of English, emphasizing problems of city pastoral and 
evangelistic work, training teachers of theology and of religious 
education; (2) the one in Tsinan cootinuing not more than two 
years beyond junior college, teaching chiefly in Chinese, closely re- 
lated to the school of education, and giving special attention to the 
problems of the rural and small town church and school and to re- 
search work on the part of the faculty in this supremely important 
field. It is expected that some students would elect courses in 
education as well as theology and be qualified to teach in or super- 
intend schools as well as to do ministerial work. 

e. That agriculture (animal husbandry) be continued 
in Peking if supported hereafter as hitherto from sources other 
than the Mission Boards. 

f. That junior and senior college courses both in 
Peking and Tsinan be open to men and women alike either by 
affiliation or coeducation as conditions may indicate to be expe- 
dient. 

g. That the university open a boys' middle school in 
Tsinan to be maintained at the highest standard of efficiency, and 
to serve as a practice school for the school of education. The 



126 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

senior middle school should provide a course for training teachers 
in elementary schools. 

h. That the junior colleges in Moukden, Peking, and 
Shansi consider whether by limiting themselves to middle schools 
of the six-year type, thoroughly staffed and equipped, they would 
not contribute more effectively to the advancement of Christian 
education and the building up of a strong Christian community in 
North China. 

216. East China. — The ideal organization of higher educa- 
tion under Christian auspices in East China would be: 

a. A university, amply provided with land, buildings 
(including chapel and library), equipment, and faculty, and con- 
ducting senior college, professional, and ultimately (post) -graduate 
work. Such a university might be of the ordinary American type 
having sole responsibility for the care and instruction of its 
students. It would probably better be of the West China type, 
which is a modification of that existing at Oxford as the result of 
centuries of evolution, and at various other places in the Old 
World and the New. It would have associated with itself as a 
teaching institution, hostels or residential colleges located imme- 
diately adjacent to it, and maintained by the missions, or colleges, 
or Chinese communities, doing educational work in this region. 

b. At various points in East China, probably at the 
points at which colleges now exist, associated middle schools, 
junior colleges, and special schools. These schools should all be 
closely associated with the university, whether legally independent 
or under its direct control. Schools of (post) -graduate or pro- 
fessional character should preferably be of the latter class. Each 
of the residential colleges at the central university location might 
well be connected with one of the outlying colleges or schools and 
bear a name suggesting this relationship. 

217. Were the situation in East China to-day comparable to 
that which existed in West China in 1909, we should doubtless 
recommend an organization similar to that which was then adopted 
there, though on a much larger scale because of the much larger 
Christian population of the eastern region. 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 127 

The progress already made in the development of Chris- 
tian education in East China, for which we have abundant reason 
to be grateful ; the fact that this progress has resulted in the 
building of a number of separate institutions with costly and 
attractive grounds and buildings, with alumni who look to them 
with pride and affection, and supporters in America who cherish 
a deep interest in them and their future development; together 
with the very large cost of establishing and maintaining a new 
institution of university character such as we have described, 
render it impracticable to make a wholly new beginning. 

Yet we are fully convinced that future developments 
should be in the direction of the realization of the plan above out- 
lined, except that the university of the future should be of the 
University of London, rather than of the Oxford type. The main- 
tenance of several faculties doing in large part the same work in 
different institutions, all within a few hours travel of one another, 
is uneconomical, and conducive neither to unity nor to strength. 

The process of producing such a university as we recom- 
mend out of the existing conditions would be similar to that by 
which the University of London itself reached its present stage of 
development. It is interesting to note that similar developments 
have by definite intention taken place at various points in Canada 
and the United States. By this process the existing institutions 
would be built into a unified whole, a real university, although its 
several schools must be at some distance from one another. 

218. As leading toward the goal which we believe the 
University of East China should adopt and seek to attain, we 
recommend the following next steps : 

a. That East China be treated as a single higher educa- 
tional area and include : St. John's University, University of Nan- 
king, Soochow University, Shanghai College, Hangchow Chris- 
tian College, Ginling College, Nanking Theological Seminary. 
Other existing institutions along the eastern coast would also be 
eligible. If a union medical college, or any other professional 
institutions, are added as separate entities they should also be in- 
cluded. See Sections 329ff. 



128 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION, IN CHINA 

b. That there be an advisory council composed of three 
representatives of each of the constituent institutions, whosse 
function it shall be to study the whole matter of Christian educa- 
tion in East China in relation to education in all parts of China and 
to make recommendations to the colleges as to the departments of 
work which they shall maintain. No institution should undertake 
new lines of work or discontinue work already in progress without 
first seeking the advice of the advisory council. 

c. That there should be in the not distant future a 
university corporation under whatever name may seem best, having 
a double function, on the one hand itself carrying on such educa- 
tional work as can be done by all the Christian forces in union, 
through schools which it shall establish or take over and main- 
tain; on the other hand constituting the central and coordinating 
element of the whole group of higher educational institutions of 
East China, which together make up the university in the larger 
sense of the term. 

The precise departments which the university itself 
should conduct must be determined by experience. We suggest as 
most clearly and appropriately falling within its scope, and as de- 
sirable to be conducted in as close proximity to one another as 
possible, the School of Medicine, the School of Law and Political 
Science, the proposed Institute of Economic and Social Research, 
the University Extension Division or the School of Public Opinion, 
Though it may not be possible to conduct all these at one site, there 
should be one thoroughly good building near the centre of Shang- 
hai, in which certain parts of this work should be done, in which 
the general offices of the university and the constituent colleges 
should be located, and which should stand out clearly before the 
general public as the visible expression of the unity of the Chris- 
tian education of East China. Lines of work not conducted at 
this headquarters building may be conducted wherever it seemed 
best in East China. 

d. That besides the departments of work named above, 
the university or its constituent colleges should conduct general 
senior college and teacher training courses, a college of school-ad- 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 129 

ministration, schools of theology, a school of agriculture, and, if 
it can be conducted without expense to the missions, a school of 
civil engineering and architecture. 

Of the lines of work not undertaken by the university 
proper each college should conduct the particular department best 
adapted to its location and relationships, all unnecessary duplica- 
tion being avoided in the interest of economy and the highest 
efficiency. Lines of work which can be best done at one of the 
colleges but by the university proper, might by agreement be so 
conducted. 

e. That the missions and home Boards be urged to dis- 
approve the establishment of any more junior or senior colleges, 
either for men or women, in the East China area. 

The plan of the Federated University, while not the ideal, 
seems to ofifer the best solution of the difficulty which the pres- 
ent circumstances will allow. It will succeed only when, by 
the severe limitation of effort, by the reduction of faculty mem- 
bers and by avoiding dupHcation of equipment, sufficient funds 
are released to enable the work now done to receive support 
adequate to the standard demanded by the future. 

219. Central China. — The Commission has been impressed 
by the exceptional opportunity for erecting a great Christian uni- 
versity in the heart of China. This area includes the "Wu Han" 
cities — Wuchang, a viceregal capital and seat of literary culture 
under the old regime, birthplace of the Republic and of China's 
modern educational development ; Hankow, destined to be the 
greatest commercial and industrial centre of inland China; Han- 
yang, an ancient town in which huge and up-to-date iron works 
have now been located. This group of cities is on the Yangtse 
River, and has railway lines built or projected from Peking to 
Canton and from Shanghai to the western frontier. Changsha, 
to the south, is famous for its scholarly traditions, and is the capi- 
tal of a province whose people are among the richest and most 
intelligent in China. The natural territory of a university in this 
area is vast, and it would be accessible to students from a distance 
in all directions. These geographical advantages are accentuated 



130 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

by the potentialities which would be realized in the educational 
work already established in the area if this were concentrated into 
a single enterprise. Yale University has reproduced its own finest 
traditions in a college in Changsha ; British missions have laid 
strong foundations in their Wu Han schools which, reinforced by 
an English University mission, might, if combined with Yale, re- 
sult in an Anglo-American institution, able to contribute the best 
scholastic ideals of the two countries blended and adapted to 
Chinese needs. If the University of Upsala saw fit to include its 
proposed educational mission, it would enrich the international 
project with a third and valuable element. Boone University al- 
ready has a splendid record of achievement. A university thus 
broadly planned, bearing the names of honored western seats of 
learning, supported by all the missions of the area, ought to attract 
the favorable attention of the people in the nations represented and 
of the Chinese, in a section of increasing wealth and unusual readi- 
ness to cooperate. The vision of what such an institution could 
become stirs the imagination. In contrast with the present policy, 
the financial gains, the spiritual significance, and the more lasting 
service to the Chinese people are obvious. 

220. Instead of suggesting in detail a process by which the 
University might be brought into existence, the Commission pre- 
fers to record certain broad but clear convictions in the confidence 
that those immediately concerned will themselves determine what 
course is best. 

In general the plan which most commends itself is the 
following : 

a. At least the senior college work should be conducted 
under one faculty. This might be done at one place or at two, but 
our judgment favors its being done at one, and we believe that if 
at one place, that should be Wuchang. With the senior college 
(whether at one place or two) there should of course be associated 
a junior college. 

b. All the missionary societies and university missions 
should combine in the maintenance of this university. 

c. All existing institutions should relate themselves to it. 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 131 

d. In order to put the plan into effect without delay, one 
of the schools might accommodate the university in its present 
plant. 

e. The existing schools should not begin any new con- 
struction that would be prejudicial to the union enterprise, but 
should make its earliest realization their controlling thought. 

f. Buildings might be erected and maintained by the 
different schools on the university campus, retaining the names of 
the schools and serving residential purposes. 

g. Special emphasis should be placed on courses in 
theology conducted by different churches but having much in 
common. 

h. All the other plants should be used for middle schools. 

i. In putting into effect the above suggestions, the fol- 
lowing initial steps should be taken : 

(i) A conference of representatives of the several in- 
stitutions and controlling missions should be held and an agree- 
ment reached as to the end to be achieved and the process for 
achieving it. 

(2) A senate or council should be formed which, with 
the consent of the governing bodies but without incorporation or 
legal control, shall recommend the financial and property adjust- 
ments, advise as to the most effective distribution of available 
teachers and the extent and type of work each constituent element 
should undertake, and determine in general the final basis of 
organization. 

(3) The legal papers should be drawn out and the con- 
sent of the several governing bodies secured to the contract which 
will make the university a legal entity. 

221. FuKiEN. — It is recommended: 

a. That inasmuch as for geographical and other natural 
causes it is impracticable at present to include this province either 
in the South or East China areas, Fukien Province be treated as 
a higher educational area. 

b. That in view of the limited content of this area the 
present Fukien Christian University be maintained as the only 



132 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

institution doing junior and senior college work, and that the 
senior college offer a single course in arts, education and theology, 
from which students will in the main be encouraged to elect studies 
preparing them for teaching or preaching. 

c. That advanced work in theology be conducted by the 
faculty of the Union Theological Seminary, as an integral part of 
the collegiate course. 

d. That in view of the excellence of the work being done 
in the middle school of the Woman's College of South China, the 
emphasis be kept on such work : that the middle school be re- 
organized, under its present control, into a six-year school of the 
new type, and that the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church be requested to consider seriously 
some plan by which the college may be made a union college, 
affiliated with Fukien Christian University, 

222. South China. — It is recommended: 

a. That Canton Christian College be encouraged to 
develop along its present lines of solid growth, with Kwantung 
and Kwangsi as its natural territory and to provide for women 
students as well as for men. 

b. That the Mission Boards having work in the 
area be advised to aid in the maintenance of the college, and that 
the local missions be requested to make recommendations to this 
effect. 

c. That the higher department of the Union Theological 
Seminary be advised to transfer its work to the Canton Christian 
College campus. 

d. That the following senior college courses be empha- 
sized : ( I ) education, especially to train middle school teachers of 
English, science, agriculture and civics; (2) agriculture, including 
horticulture and sericulture, and perhaps (3) commerce and social 
science. 

223. West China. — It is recommended : 

a. That Szechwan be treated as a higher educational area 
and that for the present Yunnan and Kweichow be included with 
it. Whether these two provinces remain in this or another group- 



COLLEGIATE EDUCATION 133 

ing, no school of college grade should be planned for either in the 
near future. 

b. That, partly because of isolation, partly because of the 
unified system already worked out, West China Union University 
be advised to continue its present courses of arts, science, medicine, 
education and religion. 

c. That higher education for women when developed be 
either in a coordinated college or on a coeducational basis. 

V. Conclusion 

224. The Commission having frankly indicated weaknesses 
and needed reforms in the system of Christian colleges, desires to 
put on record its appreciation of their splendid achievements, the 
devotion and abilities of the men and women on their faculties, and 
the surpassing importance of their place in the Christian move- 
ment. From them must come the educated Christian workers and 
laymen who are absolutely necessary for the healthy development 
of Chinese Christianity. Through them will be mediated to 
Chinese political, social and industrial progress, the contribution 
of western Christian ideals and methods. They are the most con- 
spicuous and convincing expression to the Chinese public of the 
spirit of friendly helpfulness and the ability to render worth- 
while service, which are implicit in the missionary enterprise. The 
Commission is convinced that the Mission Boards should consider 
seriously the proposed changes in policy, but also that within these 
conditions the colleges should be strengthened to the limit of finan- 
cial resources and by the appointment of the choicest Chinese and 
western teachers to be found. 



VI. Summary of Recommendations 

(i). Six higher educational areas: North China, East 
China, Central China, South China, West China, Fukien. 

(2). Each area to be treated as a unit in which there is 
either a single institution, or coordination secured through an ad- 



134 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

visory council looking toward ultimate incorporation into a single 
institution. 

(3). The Association of Colleges and Universities (or 
Department of Higher Education in the China Christian Educa- 
tional Association) to correlate all the institutions of each area with 
a view to avoiding duplication, and in every way possible to increas- 
ing efficiency and reducing expense. 

(4). A College Entrance Board to conduct examina- 
tions and tests in various centres for all the colleges. 

(5). A joint committee or board with headquarters in 
New York City and London, to serve the common interests of the 
colleges at the home base. 

(6). A college course to consist of four years following 
six years of elementary and six years of secondary study, with a 
special preparatory year for students unable to enter college. The 
first two years (junior college) to consist as a rule of general and 
preparatory studies; the last two (senior college) to be as a rule 
professional. The professional courses may, however, continue 
only one year or more than two, as different subjects require, but 
the A, B. degree should be conferred on satisfactory completion of 
the four years in any course. 

(7). All professional courses open alike to men and 
women, and junior college work for women either on a basis of 
coeducation, or in affiliated colleges, or in a college related to others 
in the area through an advisory council. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS AND THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION 

225. The educational task of the Christian forces in China 
is one of extraordinary complexity and we may look forward with 
confidence to an increase of its difficulty as time goes on. Con- 
ditions are changing. There is a movement away from the rural 
districts towards the city. Industrial processes are being revo- 
lutionised, foreign ideas are taking root. With each change 
comes a new economic, industrial, social, intellectual, or moral 
problem, part of the solution for which must come through edu- 
cation. An extended system of government education is being 
slowly perfected. All kinds of private schools and colleges are 
increasingly influential. It is necessary in order that Christian 
education may maintain its leadership and render the service which 
Christian ideals and practices alone can give, that the modern 
Christian educational system be not only of a high order and de- 
cidedly efifective, but forward-looking, easily modified to meet 
new conditions, and sensitive to change. There are certain char- 
acteristics essential to such a system of schools. 

I. TJie Essentials of an Effective System of Schools 

226. In a sense, a system of schools may be regarded as an 
organism created to produce certain desired changes in people. 
The fingers and hands are the teachers ; the nerves, the super- 
visory force; the brain, the central administration. All are mu- 
tually dependent, and in consequence each is of equal importance. 

135 



136 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

a. In order that the system may be effective, therefore, 
it is necessary that there be at the center some agency which, in 
careful and detailed fashion, shall determine the purpose of the 
process. The experiences of other lands should be considered. 
The trials, successes and errors of other systems should be given 
weight. Analysis of local problems, social, economic and re- 
ligious, should be made, that exact ideas of the finest products 
may be secured. 

In order to obtain this product, to effect this change, 
to conduct education so as to achieve this end, the ways and means 
of the process should receive careful study. The content, ar- 
rangement, and order of the curriculum should be worked out, 
and the materials of instruction necessary to the process should 
be developed and provided. Then the methods should be deter- 
mined by which the curriculum may be best presented to and 
mastered by the pupils. How to make this a part of the teach- 
ers' work; how to see that the best results are secured, either by 
standardising the product or watching the process ; how to group 
pupils for most effective work; how to advance them from stage 
to stage ; how to select, train and promote teachers ; how to train 
character ; how to form good habits ; how to give culture ; how 
to instill good manners and breeding ; how to govern schools most 
effectively ; how to keep records and make such reports as may 
be needed ; how to keep children healthy and how to make schools 
so hygienic as not to impede progress; how to construct proper 
buildings and secure such equipment that the educational process 
may be best carried out ; these are some of the problems of the 
brain of the organism. They are not easily solved. It requires 
much learning, great skill, a wide knowledge of the experience of 
others, a penetrating understanding of the local situation, and an 
enormous amount of investigation and research. But without the 
solution of these problems the fingers and hands do not know 
how to work most effectively, the nerves to give impulses, the 
brain to direct. 

b. The fingers and hands, the teachers, must be com- 
petent to carry out the plans of the central organization. Each 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS i37 

must be sensitive to the demands confronting him. Each must 
be skilled in the processes of his task. Not only must he have 
an appreciation of skilled work when he sees it, but he must him- 
self be trained to become a skilled technician. While many teach- 
ers in the past have reached this stage of efficiency by a process 
of trial and error in years of experience, the process has been 
wasteful. In general we can expect such teachers only as a re- 
sult of distinct professional preparation. 

c. The nerves, the supervisors and administrators, are 
useful only in so far as they facilitate the work of the teacher or 
carry messages to and from the central organization. Their 
task is to keep the work going, free the teacher from petty detail, 
see that the direction of the work is right, and keep the central 
organization in touch with the work that is going on. To per- 
form this function properly demands training that is thorough 
in character and truly professional. 

d. In addition, there must be present a spiritual quality, 
a sense of devotion to service, consecration to the noble and ex- 
alted task confronting the organism. Motives must be high and 
efforts measured by standards proportionate to the character of 
the task. There must be little thought of self and great con- 
sideration for others. Without this quality the system may be- 
come ponderous and mechanical to such a degree that the whole 
purpose may be missed. 

e. It should be noted that the educational organism, 
like the human, makes no distinct division of labor. To the 
degree to which it becomes a part, distinct from the rest, the 
central organisation fails in its task. It cannot merely give or- 
ders to supervisors and teachers alike. Much of the best work 
will come when teachers and supervisors themselves, either as 
individuals or groups, investigate their problems, come to certain 
results, and communicate their findings to all others. 

f. The illustration of an organism does not apply sim- 
ply to a nation-wide, centralized organisation of the Christian 
schools of China, or of itself imply the need of such an organisa- 
tion. The principles apply as well to the work of a single school, 



138 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

a regional unit, or to a uniform system of schools, nation-wide 
in extent. The thesis is that no school or system is effective, 
which does not have some central organisation to determine scien- 
tifically and thoroughly the purpose of the work and the means 
and administrative details necessary to carry it out ; teachers so 
well trained that these ideas may be efficiently carried to the pu- 
pils ; supervisory forces so skilled as to form an effective means 
of communication between the two ; and a spirit of consecration 
and devotion to so noble a task that the work will not fail. 



II. The Present Status of Christian Schools in China 

227. Compared with this ideal, the system of Christian edu- 
cation in China presents a decided contrast. There is no well- 
defined policy as to the purpose of the education given or satis- 
factory scientific adaptation to the needs, either of the China of 
to-day or the China of to-morrow. Too often the curriculum is 
only the English, Canadian, or American transplanted, imported 
duty free, perpetuating in a totally different land the mistakes 
and successes of the home country. There is neither sufficient 
agreement as to the content and order of the curriculum, nor 
adequate scientific investigation regarding it; nor careful study 
of text books or other materials of instruction, nor any great 
likelihood that the near future will see real answers to the admin- 
istrative questions raised above. 

228. The teachers have had little professional training. Ac- 
cording to the data in the survey of the fifty institutions claiming 
to offer training for primary school teachers, only ten enroll as 
many as twenty students in these courses, and there are less than 
eight hundred Chinese men and women receiving professional 
training for teaching in Christian primary schools. Consider- 
ing that there are nine thousand teachers in Christian primary 
schools ; that it is estimated that three thousand leave the profes- 
sion each year ; that two hundred is a liberal estimate of the 
trained graduates who will teach ; it is clear that the untrained 
teachers entering the primary schools of Christian churches out- 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS I39 

number the trained fifteen to one. If one were to make liberal 
allowance for longer tenure for trained than for untrained teach- 
ers, the fact still remains that most children in Christian schools 
are receiving their first schooling from teachers who have had 
no professional training for their task. Figures from three prov- 
inces indicate that not over two per cent of the Christian ele- 
mentary school teachers claim any sort of normal school prepara- 
tion for their work. (A. A. Bulloch in the Survey.) 

The seriousness of these conditions is more evident when 
it is considered that only nine of the twenty-one provinces have 
any definite Christian normal schools within their boundaries, and 
that only twenty-five per cent of the missionary societies at work 
in China are contributing anything to the support of systematic 
teacher training, 

229. Nor is the preparation for middle school teaching much 
more adequate. All told there are only one hundred and sixty 
students definitely enrolled in professional teacher training work 
in junior and senior colleges, an average of eight to an institu- 
tion. The courses are commonly without vocational point, oppor- 
tunities for practice are few, and too often as in America, gradua- 
tion from college is confused with preparation to teach. 

230. The contrast between mission and government education 
as regards teacher training is so great as to defy explanation. 
There are over two hundred government normal schools with 
about one hundred and fifty students each, and nearly three hun- 
dred and fifty lower schools having short courses preparatory to 
village school teaching. When one considers the number of 
Christian primary and middle schools, the emphasis that is placed 
upon them, and then notices that little or no attention is paid 
the problem of training teachers for these schools, one wonders 
what the future will be. At this point, American mission policy 
is more seriously at fault than the British. 

231. The same situation exists in respect to the training of 
principals and supervisors. Most of the foreign school admin- 
istrators came to the mission field without specific training for 
school administration, and most of the Chinese have been ap- 



140 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

pointed with reference to personal qualities rather than pro- 
fessional training and capability. Of late years, it has become 
common to make use of the furlough for professional preparation, 
a truly commendable procedure, but even to-day the proportion of 
trained principals is not large. Supervisors are unfortunately 
rare. This has kept educational ideals behind the times. 

It is only just to mention, however, the remarkable work 
which the China Christian Educational Association has done 
through its general office, publications, and meetings, and the serv- 
ice of the various provincial associations. These organizations 
have brought to China the best of modern theory and practice and 
have helped to coordinate and improve the work in the various 
areas. 

232. Even more important is the striking spirit of devotion 
and service which is manifest in every school. No one is working 
for pay. The nobility of the task is everywhere appreciated. 
This compensates in a large measure for the defects noted above, 
a greater compensation than one would suppose. It cannot be 
appreciated without visiting the schools. If to this spirit, which 
makes a fairly effective system of schools at present, could be 
added professional training of teachers and administrative of- 
ficers, and a thorough determination of aims, methods, and pro- 
cedures, magnificent results could be secured. 

The fact that these defects are not peculiar to China, 
that to a greater or less degree they may justly be ascribed to 
schools in all countries, does not prevent us from wishing better 
conditions for China. Only an effective system of schools will 
realize the Christian task in China. 

We may then turn our attention to the training of 
teachers, the training of administrative officers, and the institution 
of some agency to determine the best ideals, practices, and 
methods. 

III. The Training of Teachers 

233. It is one problem to provide adequate facilities for the 
proper training of teachers, it is quite another to see that these 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 141 

facilities are used. As was noted above, very few students elect 
teacher-training where it is offered, an average of only eight to 
twelve per school in normal and middle schools, and eight in 
junior and senior colleges. The rate of infant mortality, high in 
China, also applies to normal schools, there being mourners in 
several cities at the graves of incipient teacher-training institutions 
which failed to live to maturity. 

Nor is it strange that young men and women should 
hesitate to enter this field. In the villages the life is hard. Stu- 
dents who have been taken out of their home surroundings and 
accustomed to a higher standard of living find it difficult to re- 
turn to the discomforts, hardships, and monotony of village life. 
Salaries are small, constituting a bare living wage. When the re- 
tention of position depends upon the approval of a local com- 
mittee, or the teacher is forced himself to collect a part of his 
salary from the parents of pupils, tenure is somewhat uncertain, 
and rarely do teachers have the advantages of pensions, educa- 
tional care of families, and other perquisites that are a part of 
the material remuneration of a pastor. Students selecting a 
teacher-training course in a normal school, which in China seems 
to have receivied some of the opprobrium heaped upon it in 
America, too often find it difficult to enter college if they desire, 
thus making teaching a "blind alley" occupation. The normal 
school is also considered of a lower type, yielding less culture, 
than the usual college preparatory school, and carries with it a 
social handicap which the wealthy refuse and the poor cannot 
afford to disregard. These disadvantages coupled with the Chi- 
nese practice of several members of a family jointly supporting 
one prospective scholar, with the hope that at a later period he 
may become a financial prop in return, serves to turn students 
away from the poorly paid profession into one of greater ma- 
terial reward. 

234. Before any adequate use of prospective teacher train- 
ing facilities can be expected, it will be necessary for the Chris- 
tian forces at work in China to attract students to the teaching 
profession, either by securing a greater spirit of service, making 



142 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

better conditions of work, holding out future rewards for the 
few, or reducing the period of preparation. It is recommended 
that definite action be taken upon each of the following points : — 

a. It is important that every effort be made to develop 
the spirit of service in students, making them see that teaching 
is an exalted and noble calling, and one of the most patriotic 
of professions. Just as the evangelistic purpose of the missions in 
the past has. built up a system of schools for the production of 
evangelists, so that same aim and policy now demands a system 
of schools for the purpose of producing teachers, evangelists of 
the present day; and just as, supplementary to this system in 
the past, it was necessary to hold up the calling of the evangelist 
as a career of great service, so the profession of teaching should 
be held up. It is important that a nation-wide campaign for the 
enlisting of teachers be started without delay. A Student Teach- 
ers' Volunteer Movement is needed. 

b. It is important that teaching and preaching be con- 
sidered equal so far as dignity of service is concerned, and there 
should be as much honor, dignity, and permanence in the one 
ofifice as in the other. 

c. One obstacle to entering the teaching profession is 
the miserable prospect of life in the village. Emphasis should 
be laid upon the importance of increasing the pay of the teacher, 
of providing living quarters, and of helping the teacher not only 
to consider his mission as a service to children, but to recognize 
that by his eft'orts village life and the prospects of his successor 
may be improved. Pestalozzi's Leonard and Gertrude should be 
a model for the village teacher. The school in a true sense should 
become a community center. 

d. Teachers should be protected from the whims of 
ignorant people, whether in the village or in mission bodies. In 
particular, they should not be exposed to the difficulties attendant 
upon the collection of their own salaries. 

e. The teacher should clearly understand that the high- 
est educational positions are open to him if he has the necessary 
character, courage and ability. Administrative Boards should 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 143 

promote to positions of responsibility as many from within the 
system as possible. 

f. Village teachers of success and promise should be 
assisted to higher education. A person will bear cheerfully all 
sorts of hardship if only there is a prospect of better things ahead. 
This calls for the articulation of lower and higher normal train- 
ing, and the admission of normal students to college on an equal- 
ity with graduates from other types of schools. 

g. While the government has found that the practice of 
giving free tuition, room, and food to prospective teachers in 
training, succeeds in filling teacher training schools with students, 
it is doubtful whether the Christian forces should adopt this 
procedure. It would probably be better to spend this money in 
increasing salaries of teachers in service. On the other hand, 
tuition charges should be low, equipment simple, and normal 
schools as near the destination of the product as possible. 



IV. Preparation of Primary School Teachers 

235. The student preparing to teach in the primary school 
should receive specific and definite preparation for his work. 
He should become thoroughly familiar with the usual primary 
school subjects and be able to step into any class in the school 
and teach it well. In addition he should be familiar with the 
problems of health and hygienic living, able to teach at least one 
vocational subject, and competent in religious teaching and guid- 
ance. He should be so trained as to become interested in his 
community, able to understand its problems and as a future com- 
munity leader, ambitious to advance the standard of life. This 
difficult educational task requires distinct preparation which can- 
not be expected as the by-product of some other type of endeavor. 

236. The need for trained teachers of this high type will not 
be met until the Christian forces at work in China establish a 
sufficient number of first-class normal schools. These schools 
ideally should have the following standards : 



144 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

a. Location. — The size of the city is not important, but 
it would be advantageous to be close to several village schools 
and a city primary school. * 

b. Expense. — This should be kept as low as possible, 
with moderate tuition fees, simple quarters and food, equipment 
that is not elaborate so that students will not be taken too far 
from the conditions of life to which they will return. 

c. Faculty. — Every member of the faculty should be 
familiar with and interested in the primary school. Those who 
are in charge of the specific training should have received ad- 
vanced training themselves. 

d. Practice teaching. — There should be ample facilities 
for practice teaching throughout the course. 

e. Curriculum. — The prime emphasis should be on the 
subjects commonly included in the primary school curriculum in 
more complete form and wider application. The plan of the 
professionalized subject matter course should be followed. The 
professor should not only cover the subject matter itself, but, 
realizing that the student before him is later to become a teacher, 
the treatment should be so modified as to make it more readily 
taught. There should be special work dealing with problems of 
health, religious instruction, vocational guidance, industrial train- 
ing, the school as a community center, the enjoyment of life and 
the proper use of periods of leisure, and good manners. 

f. Student life. — The Christian attitude to life being 
important as a part of the personality of the prospective teacher, 
the school life of the student should exemplify this. 

g. Professional zvork. — The work in education should 
be professional rather than formal, and so far as possible con- 
nected with practice teaching. 

h. Sex of students. — Ordinarily there should be sepa- 
rate schools for men and women, but with proper supervision and 
preparation, the use of separate hostels for men and women might 
make coeducation advantageous. 

i. Kindergarten training. — Certain of these schools 
should specialize in training young women for positions in kinder- 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 145 

gartens. The kindergarten is growing in importance in the Chris- 
tian scheme of education, and serves a real need. 

j. Grade. — This school should be of the grade of a 
senior middle school. This means that the student will receive 
three years of general preparation in the junior middle school in 
addition to six years in the primary school before taking three 
years of professional preparation. This would presuppose about 
half of the work outlined in the normal course suggested in the 
Educational Review, Vol. IX, No. 4, p. 352, allowing more time 
for practice teaching and vocational training. 

237. It will be difficult for the Christian forces at work 
in China to establish even one school of this type at present. The 
faculty is not available, particularly along vocational lines. Ac- 
cordingly it is recommended that for a few years at least the 
school give only two years of preparation beyond the junior mid- 
dle school ; and that the Mission Boards concentrate their efiforts 
in a few schools strategically located. It will be wiser to have 
one excellent school than several poor ones. Then at a later date, 
when the college courses in school supervision provide adequately 
trained teachers, the two year schools may be extended to three 
years, and new schools established. It is recommended that these 
first-class schools be provided by union efifort. 

This normal school is the normal middle school sug- 
gested in the Chapter on Secondary Education (Sections 167, 177). 

238. Because of the probable scarcity and expense of schools 
of this type, it will be necessary for some time to continue offer- 
ing an abbreviated and inadequate normal or teacher training cur- 
riculum as an adjunct to the general middle school course. It is 
obvious that the usual addition of a few hours in pedagogy to the 
college preparatory course will leave the graduate untrained for 
his post, but a little training will be better than none at all. As 
many of the characteristics noted above as possible should be in- 
corporated ; and the time of one teacher should be given exclu- 
sively to this work. He should guide the students in their choice 
of subjects, prepare them for their teaching, and supervise prac- 
tice in neighboring schools. Inasmuch as the number of stu- 



146 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

dents preparing for teaching will probably be small,' he should be 
able to give his students much personal attention, giving as much 
of the theory of teaching as possible in connection with practice, 
and a little glimpse of the problems of vocational, technical, and 
health education, and of community leadership. In general, it 
would be better not to concentrate this work in the last year, but 
rather to spread it over the last two or three years of the course. 

239. It is also the judgment of the Commission that for 
several years, at least in some parts of the country, it will be 
necessary to offer a still simpler and less expensive form of nor- 
mal training to prepare teachers for the village schools. This 
school should admit students, from higher primary village schools, 
who show promise and character, who are above the average in 
Chinese, being at least eighteen years of age. This school should 
strive to give just as much as it can within one year ; be located 
near some village schools ; have simple equipment, and, aside from 
the usual work in Chinese, should do as much of its work in con- 
nection with practice teaching as possible. This should be con- 
sidered only as a temporary measure to meet the present discour- 
aging situation. The school should be extended to a two-year 
school just as soon as students can be found who will take the 
course. What is really recommended is a Mark Hopkins on one 
end of a log and a few students on the other, the log in this case 
being a village school, and the Mark Hopkins a teacher or two 
who love the village school and are quite competent to teach in it. 

V. Preparation of Middle School Teachers 

240. It is more difficult to prepare a teacher for a posi- 
tion in a middle school than for one in a primary school. He 
is preparing to teach more advanced students and the subject 
matter is more difficult. He will be continually compared with 
foreign teachers. It is fortunate, therefore, that the untrained 
middle school teacher does not constitute as serious a problem as 
the untrained primary teacher or supervisor, and, inasmuch as 
pay, tenure, dignity, and prospect for the teacher of this grade 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 147 

are on a distinctly higher plane than that of the primary teacher, 
we may demand a more extensive and expensive period of prep- 
aration. 

The middle school program (see Chapter on Secondary 
Education) contemplates junior and senior middle schools, each 
three years in length, the former providing a common series of 
courses, cultural and prevocational in nature similar to the work 
now given in the last year of the higher primary and first year 
of the middle schools, and the latter primarily vocational, pre- 
paring for commerce, teaching, government service, agricultural 
and industrial pursuits as well as for further study. This plan 
necessitates two more or less distinct types of teachers, those giv- 
ing the general subjects such as Chinese, history, science, etc., 
and those giving the vocational subjects. The first will be more 
numerous, being found in both types of schools; the latter will 
appear only in the senior grade of school. 

241. Preparation for teaching in these schools, as in the 
primary schools, should be distinctly professional and separate 
from general training. The need for these teachers will not be 
met until the Christian forces in China establish a sufi^cient num- 
ber of first class colleges of education of the following type: 

a. Location. — Preferably in a city with several middle 
schools, and in a university with other faculties. 

b. Expense. — To be kept as low as possible, with mod- 
erate tuition fees and a system of loans and scholarships to help 
students of real promise. 

c. Faculty. — Every member of the faculty to be an ex- 
pert in his subject, and quite as well trained as in any higher in- 
stitution of college grade. This is important, since the success 
or failure of the teacher depends as much upon thorough knowl- 
edge of the subjects to be taught as upon any other factor. 

d. Practice teaching. — Ample facilities for practice 
teaching. Most of the professional work should be linked up 
with this, just as the training of the physician is linked up with 
the hospital. This means that, with few exceptions, a practice 
school under the direction of the college of education is necessary. 



148 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

e. Subject matter. — Two-thirds of the student's time 
should be devoted purely to subject matter courses in a few lines, 
with continuous work from year to year, building upon the junior 
college. The professor should bear in mind that the student 
is preparing to become a teacher and references should be as- 
signed, note books written, outlines prepared and term papers 
demanded that at some later date may be used to advantage by 
a teacher in a classroom. To illustrate, the professor of physics 
should be mindful of the fact that the student at some later date 
may be called upon to teach physics in a small middle school with 
poor equipment. He should show the student how to use home- 
made equipment wherever possible, how to apply principles to 
local problems, and indicate the relative value of experiments, 
so that a limited budget for the purchase of apparatus may be 
expended in the wisest manner at some later date. The major 
emphasis in subject matter should be upon middle school sub- 
jects. Thus there should be general science as well as physics 
and chemistry, courses in teaching English as well as English 
literature. The subject matter course professionalized cannot be 
too strongly emphasized. 

f. Professional work. — The courses in education should 
grow out of and into real teaching situations in the practice school. 
In general they should be directed to the following topics, though 
some of them may be covered in a short time : the purpose of the 
middle school, the middle school as it now exists, how pupils 
learn, health conditions in the school, preparation of material for 
class room instruction, how to teach, how to test and check up 
results, the function of the teacher in the administration of the 
school, professional ethics, loyalty to the principal, the curriculum, 
and how to select text books and other materials of instruction. 

g. Student life. — Inasmuch as most middle schools are 
boarding schools there is a large educational opportunity in the 
time the pupil spends outside of class. To this end, each student 
preparing for teaching should be encouraged to become expert in 
some phase of student activity such as athletics, debating, boy- 
scout, lite.ary and club work. The college should make every 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 149 

effort to provide opportunities for student activities, not neglect- 
ing religious and social service of all sorts. 

h. Sex of students. — The college may be for either men 
or women, or coeducational ; or colleges for men and women may 
be affiliated. 

i. Grade. — The college should be of senior college grade. 

242. It will be difficult for the Christian forces at work in 
China to establish any great number of colleges of this sort in 
the next few years. The professional faculty is not available and 
the expense will probably be large. Accordingly it is recom- 
mended that not more than one such school be developed immedi- 
ately, and not more than one in each university area in the next 
few years. It will be better to have one fi-rst-class institution 
than many that are not so good. This should provide a few well 
trained teachers for middle schools, who would look upon teach- 
ing as a permanent profession. 

243. Under present conditions, not many students will select 
training of this sort. Until teaching conditions are bettered, until 
prospects are more attractive, it is doubtful if so long a period 
of preparation can be universally demanded. Accordingly it is 
recommended that junior colleges of education be established, to 
carry into practice as many of the principles outlined above as 
possible, completing the work at the close of the second year 
beyond the new type middle school, giving much the same pro- 
fessional work in these years as is suggested above for the 
senior college. The majority of middle school teachers will be 
prepared in schools of this sort, so long as present teaching con- 
ditions continue. 

244. The college of education and the junior college of edu- 
cation, outlined above, should meet the need for teachers of gen- 
eral subjects in both junior and senior middle schools. The 
training of teachers of commerce, teacher-training, agriculture 
and the like is more difficult. If large numbers of teachers of 
the vocational subjects were demanded annually, it would be wise 
to recommend colleges of commercial teaching, colleges of agri- 
cultural teaching and others of this type; but no such numbers 



150 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

are demanded, nor are the Christian forces financially able to 
support such an ambitious plan. It is accordingly recommended 
that where technical colleges are established, some member of 
the faculty be appointed to care for the teaching of the tech- 
nical subject. Thus in a college of commerce, it is suggested that 
a professor of the teaching of commerce be selected to give a cer- 
tain amount of instruction in education and to supervise practice 
teaching. Graduates would then be expert in their subject and 
would have received some professional training for their work. 



VI. Teachers' Certificates and Degrees 

245. The program of teacher-training outlined above, while 
holding the present standards as an ideal, recognizes that for 
several years at least a shorter period of preparation will be the 
usual thing. The normal school for village teachers, the normal 
school five years beyond the primary school, and the junior col- 
lege of education will be the typical teacher training institutions. 
To some it will appear to be a lowering of standards; it should 
rather be considered as a change of standards. It has not been 
usual in other countries to demand the same length of training 
for all occupations; nor should China demand the same length 
of training for all. It is important, however, that recognition 
be granted the graduate from the teacher training course, regard- 
less of the fact that he may not have reached the stage of advance- 
ment of the middle school graduation certificate or the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts. In this connection it is interesting to note 
that the degrees of Bachelor, Master, and Doctor, now denoting 
certain degrees or stages of advancement of training, were in 
their origin teachers' degrees or certificates. When the pupil had 
studied for an undefined period of time, and in the judgment of 
his professors was at last deemed competent to teach, he was 
granted the degree of Master or Doctor, the Latin words for 
teacher. Sometimes the degree of Bachelor, meaning appren- 
tice, was granted to students not quite so competent. The rea- 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 151 

soning was from the task down, not from the period of prepara- 
tion up ; and this in our judgment is much the more logical. With 
this in mind we suggest a combination of the degree and certificate 
plan to be adopted by the Christian forces at work in China, with 
certificates for certain proficiency and a degree. The suggestions 
which follow are intended only for illustration, it being the ex- 
pectation of the Commission that these will be worked over by 
local experts into a plan suited to the psychology of the Chinese 
teacher and the conditions in China. 

a. Qualified teacher. — This should be the highest de- 
gree, granted only after two yekrs of experience to graduates 
of professional colleges: the first grade to senior college gradu- 
ates, the second grade to junior college graduates. It should be 
awarded to graduates of other colleges as soon as in summer 
school or other study they have completed the equivalent of the 
professional courses offered in the colleges of education. It 
should be valid for a period of about five years and renewed for 
life upon evidence of further study. 

For elementary teachers, the same conditions should hold 
good, the only variation being graduation from the normal school 
instead of the college of education. For some years the five 
year course should be considered standard. 

b. Teacher. — This degree should be awarded to old- 
style teachers of Chinese, teachers of commerce, agriculture, and 
other subjects upon examination. 

c. Temporary permit to teach. — This certificate, not a 
degree, should be awarded to any teacher upon application of his 
superior educational officer, enabling him to teach for one year 
only, to be renewed three times if necessary. It should not be 
renewed thereafter, unless the teacher has shown evidence of fur- 
ther study. 

d. Village teacher. — A degree specially devised for the 
low grade normal school. 

These certificates or degrees should be conferred by 
suitable authorities, the qualified degrees by the general office of 
the China Christian Educational Association, the others by the 



152 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

provincial associations. Each should be worth preservation and 
exhibition, and should be conferred with ceremony. 



VII. The Training of Supervisors and Principals 

246. Important as is the training of teachers, the strategic 
point of attack, if widespread improvement in teaching is to be 
effected, lies in the school administrators and supervisors ; and 
their proper training is a matter of utmost importance. With a 
constantly changing teaching force, and an altering teaching prob- 
lem, no system of schools can adjust itself to changes without a 
supervisory and administrative force trained to do its task in an 
effective manner ; and when so many teachers, from force of 
circumstances, must for years to come begin their work relatively 
untrained, the only hope is to have them trained by their immedi- 
ate superiors while they are engaged in their work. It is also 
true that the scientific study of education has so far made greater 
contributions to this field than to any other and that sufficient 
scientific experiments and investigations have been made to form 
a satisfactory basis for training school supervisory officers. 

247. It is therefore recommended that besides the college 
referred to in 242 there be a college of school administration, 
accepting for entrance graduates of junior colleges, preferably 
with teaching experience, and giving courses leading to the 
Bachelor's degree. This would presuppose a fairly liberal train- 
ing, some teaching experience and a knowledge of most of the 
subjects taught in the lower schools. About two-fifths of the 
student's time should be devoted to one or two of the following 
fields fundamental to educational study : biology, philosophy, psy- 
chology, hygiene, sociology, economics or political science. The 
course should be elementary in the first year and advanced in the 
second. Two-fifths of the student's time should be devoted to 
a thorough study of school administration, including the experi- 
ences of other nations, the development of a Christian philosophy 
of education and the applications in China to-day of the most 
trustworthy results of modern investigation and research. 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 153 

248. Just as practice classes are essential to the training of 
the teacher, so practice schools are essential to the training of 
the administrator. It is therefore necessary that affiliated with 
this college there be city middle and primary schools and a rural 
system of education. One-fifth of the time should be given to 
practice supervision. 

249. Principals and supervisors in service should be encour- 
aged to come to the college for shorter periods than the entire 
year if they cannot be spared from their posts for longer time. 
Effort should be made to arrange courses so that two or three 
months in residence at any time in the year would provide some 
work that was complete. The summer session should be very im- 
portant and in all probability could be conducted in more than 
one place. 

250. A less effective type of training for principals may 
also be included in the college of education, and training for pri- 
mary supervisors in the junior college of education. The first 
class normal school recommended could also give some special 
work for supervisors, particularly where these students are un- 
familiar with English. 

VIII. The Advancement of Education 

251. It is a matter of fundamental importance that some- 
where in China there be established an institution primarily for 
educational research, strong enough to make a beginning of the 
study of the whole educational field. There is a large num- 
ber of problems that need investigation, many of which have been 
investigated for other countries, but never for China. The gen- 
eral aim of the institution should be, by cautious experimentation 
and careful thought, to discover for each type of work that kind 
of education which is best adapted to produce a community that 
will be physically, economically, intellectually and morally so 
strong and efficient as itself to be able to leaven the life of China. 

252. The methods of work should embrace the philosophical 
attack (the careful consideration of tangible and intangible fac- 



154 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

tors, their analysis and synthesis), the comparative attack (the 
consideration of the effects of total educational situations in vary- 
ing environments), the statistical attack (the search for truth 
in the careful study of present tendencies where the evidence is 
tangible), and the experimental attack (the minute study of the 
effect of one variable in a stable and unvarying educational situa- 
tion). Some of the problems to be solved are outlined above. 
See Section 226. 

253. The Institute for Educational Research when fully de- 
veloped will be expensive, but the results should amply justify 
the expense. No great expenditure should be made for build- 
ings and plant, the main items being salaries of the staff* and 
provision for publication and research. A few advanced stu- 
dents could be received at once and act as research assistants. No 
degree below the Master's or Doctor's should be given. 

The peculiar difficulty of the proposed institution is the 
faculty. In one group, almost in each individual, there will be 
needed an intimate understanding of the local situation, sympa- 
thetic appreciation of conditions in China, and command of spe- 
cific methods of investigation and research. 

254. Because of the difficulty of finding the men competent 
to make up such a faculty, we recommend that this institution be 
organized slowly. Once funds are secured, the director should 
be appointed, an administrative staff organized, and quarters 
planned for. Certain qualified people could be employed at once 
in a few lines and a small number of research problems attacked. 
In the meantime, measures should be taken to train the future 
faculty. Several teachers, Chinese or foreign, whose character 
and promise has been evident in their work, should enter into 
tentative relations with the Institute, to be sent abroad, to Eng- 
land, Canada, the United States or anywhere else in the world 
where certain methods of educational investigation have been 
perfected. While the work would start in a small way in China, 
part of the director's time should be devoted to watching the 
progress of the future members of the faculty, holding confer- 
ences with them and guiding them in their work. In three years 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 155 

the entire group could be assembled in China for continuation of 
work started abroad, and from that time on results could be ex- 
pected, 

255. The Institute will not be a spectacular institution. Its 
quarters will be modest, and its results meager at the start, but 
with wise direction and freedom to develop unhampered, in five or 
six years its influence in Christian education in China should be 
great. 

256. The physical equipment should include offices, one or 
more experimental schools, and if not located in a large city with 
a foreign quarter, housing for students and faculty. Great num- 
bers of students should neither be expected nor allowed, the 
quality of the product and the research of the faculty being the 
objectives, 

257. Once the Institute is a going concern, it could well 
spare a part of its energy in making more effective the college of 
school administration, and some of the colleges of education and 
normal schools. But its main purpose should always be research, 
not teaching ; and its other duties should be incidental to its main 
end. 

258. The results of the work should be carried to every 
school in China by means of close affiliation with the China Chris- 
tian Educational Association, by publication and translation, by 
close relationship with teacher training institutions, and by sum- 
mer classes at various places in China, both for Chinese and 
foreign teachers and administrators. 



IX. The Training of Teachers in Service 

259. With provision of normal schools for primary teachers, 
professional college instruction for middle school teachers, super- 
visors, and principals, and a research institution for the deter- 
mination of wise plans and policies, it will still be many years 
before trained teachers are found in all schools. Indeed if all 
teachers were trained it would still be necessary to continue train- 
ing because of the changes that any school system must make 



156 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

to maintain its lead. For these reasons it is important that ample 
provision be made for the continued training of teachers in service. 

260. Every teacher should have supervision. The funda- 
mental reason for the success of the schools in the Philippine 
Islands, where, despite the fact that only ten per cent of the teach- 
ers are graduates of schools equal to or superior to middle schools, 
the class room work has point and vigor far beyond one's expec- 
tations, is the careful system of supervision. Not only is there 
one supervisor for every thirty-three teachers, but many other 
schemes are resorted to, in order to keep the teachers informed 
of the best practice and instructed in its application to their own 
class rooms. 

261. Teachers' institutes should be held annually, not only 
for village teachers, but also for city teachers in primary and 
middle schools. The work should be practical, arranged with the 
idea of- its being easily applied. It is also valuable to institute 
what may be called "model classes," where an expert teaches a 
class in the presence of several teachers whose work has been dis- 
missed for the day. Too often the teacher works in complete 
isolation, never having an opportunity to see the way in which 
other teachers meet the problems which arise daily. 

262. Summer schools as mentioned above are of great worth 
and central authorities should follow the practice occasionally 
found in America of encouraging attendance by increases in 
salary. The system of certification outlined above would also 
have the effect of stimulating summer session attendance. 

The possibilities of correspondence study should be in- 
vestigated. A first-class correspondence school adapted to Chi- 
nese conditions could become a continual source of inspiration and 
guidance to teachers in the remote districts. 

X. The Training of Foreign Teachers 

263. The wider experience and better training of foreign 
teachers in the past has given them a tremendous advantage over 
their Chinese colleagues ; but the time is not far distant when they 
will be outstripped, if their training fails to point directly at their 



THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 157 

educational task. The modern science of education is rapidly tak- 
ing form and few mission educators are prepared to take advan- 
tage of it. The Boards at home have failed adequately to realize 
that the development of the educational phases of mission work 
have made it impossible to carry on the Christian educational mis- 
sion by men and women who, although they are excellently trained 
ministers and social workers, are not at all expert in education. 
The most intelligent appreciation of modern school administration, 
and the best adaptation of mental tests which we found, were not 
in a Christian school. 

For this reason it is important that in the selection of 
candidates for missionary service the Mission Boards give due 
weight to strictly professional training for teaching and school 
administration. 

264. Most of the younger missionaries are spending consid- 
erable time at language schools. It would be helpful if a part 
of their time were devoted to receiving some belated training in 
methods of school administration and in an analysis of some of 
the educational problems that are peculiar to China. 

The correspondence instruction noted above, as well as 
the summer schools, should be available also for the foreign work- 
ers. The isolation of the mission worker, the great burden of 
his task, and the pressure of daily duties tend to prevent intellec- 
tual growth. New information of all sorts should continually 
pour into every mission compound. 

265. The problem of the proper use of the furlough also 
needs consideration. Training for educational work should be 
as systematically organized and as widely offered as for evan- 
gelistic work. 

XI. Summary of Recommendations 

(i.) Immediate steps must be taken to encourage young 
men and women to enter the teaching profession. This involves 
definite consideration of a Student Teachers' Volunteer Move- 
ment; dignifying the teaching profession; improvement of the 



158 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

life of the teacher, local administration and prospects ; the privi- 
lege of entrance to college from normal schools without penalty ; 
and lowering the cost and shortening the time of preparation. 

(2.) One first-class union normal school should be or- 
ganized and several schools should be instituted in strategic loca- 
tions to give two years of special training beyond the junior mid- 
dle school. 

(3.) Education classes in middle schools and short- 
course schools for village teachers should be instituted wherever 
possible. 

(4.) A degree-certificate system for standardizing the 
training of teachers should be adopted. 

(5). There should be established a high-class senior 
college of education and wherever possible junior colleges of 
education to provide teachers for middle schools. There should 
also be teacher-training courses in selected technical colleges. 
Eventually there should be one senior college of education in each 
higher educational area. 

(6.) A college of school administration should be es- 
tablished. 

(7.) An institute of educational research should be or- 
ganized. 

(8.) Every effort should be made to train the teachers 
now in service. 

(9.) There should be better provision for training the 
foreign stafif. 



CHAPTER V 

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 

I. The History of Theological Education 

266. The first missionaries of necessity undertook the entire 
missionary task. They were evangehsts, pastors, teachers, trans- 
lators, but primarily evangehsts. Heavy as were their burdens 
and perplexing as were their problems their tasks were simple 
as compared with the program of the modern missionary. 

As fields opened up and work developed these mission- 
aries needed helpers. They selected the most promising and 
devoted men and women of their limited group, gave them some 
personal training and sent them out to repeat the message which 
they had received. This was the beginning of a native ministry. 

267. The early constituency of the church in nearly all mis- 
sionary lands has of necessity been from among the poorer and 
lower classes of society. Hence the early workers were of neces- 
sity men and women of limited training. Nevertheless they were 
indispensable to the work, they accomplished a great deal, and 
much of the success of to-day can be attributed to their faithful 
labors. 

268. As the work developed and the missionaries felt an in- 
creasing need of helpers, the missions, independently of each 
other, opened Bible training schools to give these assistants the 
rudiments of education. This education was usually of a most 
limited character as there had been little previous preparation. 
This was the beginning, however, of an educated ministry. The 
changing conditions of each successive period have necessitated an 
improvement in the type of education. There has been a constant 

159 



i6o CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

evolution from those first rudimentary training classes to the 
theological institution accepting only college trained men. The 
progress of fifty years has been marked but especially the progress 
of the last ten years. 



II. The Present Situation 

269. In any evolutionary process much of the old remains 
while the new is being developed. Theological education in China 
has retained the types of school developed at practically every 
stage of the progress. There are still places where a single mis- 
sionary is teaching a little group of Chinese who have had no 
educational background a few things which he regards as essen- 
tial for a worker in the Kingdom, and sending them out as heralds 
of the good news. There are Bible schools which have risen but 
little higher and are content to train men who have had almost no 
education. There are also Bible schools, well organized and 
staffed, giving a good education; theological colleges training the 
graduates of middle schools ; seminaries training only college men ; 
and schools that are attempting both tasks. There are also Bible 
schools of many grades for the training of women workers. 

270. It is not easy to classify the various institutions for 
men, but we venture to divide them into, four groups. 

a. Theological colleges whose students have all had two 
years or more of college work before entrance. There are five 
institutions in this group. 

b. Theological institutions which admit both college stu- 
dents and middle school graduates or the latter only. In this 
group there are three schools. 

c. Institutions combining a theological school and a 
Bible school. Five institutions may be ranked in this group. 

d. Bible schools of various grades which train men who, 
for the nlost part have had little previous education. There are 
about seventy-one schools in this group. 

271. The schools for training women may be divided into 
three classes. There are about thirty-eight of these schools, but 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION i6i 

the information at hand is so limited that it is impossible to give 
any accurate data regarding the number in each class. 

a. Bible schools which admit the graduates of middle 
schools only. There is one school in this class. 

b. Bible schools which admit women of limited educa- 
tion and train them for evangelistic and other work. 

c. Schools giving a limited amount of education to ma- 
ture women with little educational background. These schools 
are usually classified with Bible schools but should not be so 
grouped as their purpose is different. 

272. A surprising amount of interdenominational and inter- 
national cooperation has been secured in the field of theological 
education. Of the thirteen theological schools all except three are 
the result of interdenominational cooperation. This is the last 
field in which the churches at home would have dreamed of union 
or regarded it at all possible. It is a great tribute to the states- 
manship of the missionary that he has seen the possibility of this 
movement. 

273. It is when we face the matter of enrollment in these 
schools that we discover the most disturbing situation. In the 
eight institutions conducting courses for students of college grade 
(Section 270 a, b) there were enrolled last session ninety-six men. 
In the eight institutions requiring middle school graduation (Sec- 
tion 270 b, c) there were two hundred and ninety-five. These 
figures must cause serious thought on the part of all who seek the 
advance of the Christian movement in China. How significant it is 
that in all the Protestant Christian schools combined, only ninety- 
six men of college grade were preparing for the ministry, an aver- 
age of thirty-two available each year. This showing is most signifi- 
cant against the background of the 400,000,000 to be evangelized 
or the estimated 375,000 to be nurtured in the Christian life. Con- 
trasted with the efforts put into Christian higher education the 
discrepancy is no less startling. All the mission colleges, senior 
and junior, with their heavy capital investments and annual bud- 
gets, their large administrative and teaching forces, their absorp- 
tion of time and energy in the home lands and on the field, estab- 



i62 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

lished primarily to supply the church with qualified leaders, are 
actually after all these years sending only thirty-two men annually 
into theological training. When this number of college graduates 
in theological schools is compared with the two hundred and 
ninety-five middle school graduates in the theological schools, the 
conclusion would seem to be either that a high standard for the 
Chinese clergy is not desired or that the larger part of the avail- 
able material is not considered worthy of advanced training. The 
situation is only slightly relieved by the addition of the men now 
studying theology abroad. There is food for serious thought on 
the part of all those who are cherishing the hope that China may 
become a Christian nation. 



III. Present Problems Stated 

274. The growing need of the Chinese church for a more 
adequately-trained ministry. 

a. There is a changing order in the Chinese church, 
and the change is going on more rapidly than many of those who 
are closest to the problem realize. Whereas until recently the 
gospel has appealed mainly to the less intelligent classes the door 
is now open to the more educated people. But by reason of the 
caliber of its ministry, the Chinese church is disqualified to meet 
the situation. It is not difficult to lead educated people to the 
doors of the church as interested hearers, but there are few 
churches which can hold them. The desperateness of the situa- 
tion is reflected in the fact that there are whole missions which 
have not as yet a single college educated minister. 

b. The wastefulness of this policy is evident in many 
directiiDns. The missions are spending large sums of money on 
institutions of higher education for the purpose of evangelizing 
and training leaders. Many of them are highly successful and 
hundreds of converts are won every year. But what becomes of 
them? They find themselves confronted with the necessity of 
attending churches whose preachers are not qualified to minister 
to intelligent people. Every year there return from abroad scores 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 163 

of well-trained young people, the product in a large part of mis- 
sion schools, but most of them are lost to the church in China 
because there are no pastors trained to meet their need. 

c. Christianity can never win any nation until it wins 
the intellectual classes. This is more true of China than of almost 
any other nation. It is high time to make an appeal to these 
classes. The demand is accentuated by the intellectual awakening 
which is spreading all over China, manifested in the New Thought 
Movement and other similar movements which are gripping the 
minds of the educated people. The missions are doing a splendid 
work through their many schools, but little through the churches 
in winning the support of this increasing intellectual class. The 
churches are Christianity's weakest asset in China ; and this is 
due in large part to the failure of the missions to train an edu- 
cated ministry. 

d. The churches will gladly accept better men if they 
are made available. We are not unaware of the contrary opinion, 
but it is a universal principle as applicable in China as anywhere 
else. It has been demonstrated beyond question in the province 
of Shantung, for example, where in a poor section of China, 
cursed with floods and famines, the churches are unwilling to 
put up with a low-grade ministry. Independent ch-urches in all 
parts of China, uninfluenced by the missionaries, almost invariably 
call better men if they are available and at higher salaries than 
the missionaries have thought possible. Give the churches a 
chance at better leadership and they will certainly respond to it 
quickly. 

275. The difficulty of securing a higher grade of men for 
the ministry of the church. This is one of the most perplexing 
problems which the missions have to face and its seriousness 
should not be overlooked. The difficulty seems to be due to sev- 
eral causes : 

a. In large measure to the standard which has long ob- 
tained. The missions have too frequently been content with a 
low grade of men. The idea has become lodged in the minds of 
young men that the ministry is a profession for this type, and 



r64 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

strong young men in the colleges have come to look upon it almost 
with contempt. It is going to be exceedingly difficult to overcome 
this handicap. 

b. To the fact that the ordinary conception of the task 
of the Christian minister is not one which naturally appeals to the 
Chinese. The minister is a proclaimer, an exhorter, and there is 
nothing in the Chinese experience to make this an honored calling. 
The whole conception of the ministry must be lifted to a new level 
before it will appeal to the best young men. This is a slow 
process. 

c. To the failure of many missions to give proper rec- 
ognition and permit sufficient initiative to the Chinese pastor. It 
is impossible to shut our eyes to the fact that many missionaries 
have desired to keep the control of the churches in their own 
hands, without doubt because of their feeling that the Chinese are 
not qualified for responsibility. This has been the universal com- 
plaint from the Chinese leaders. More recognition must precede 
any large accession to the ranks of the Christian ministry. 

d. To the traditional grade of instruction in theology, 
which in most institutions has necessarily been below that of the 
college. This has not been hidden from the mind of the college 
student, whg has naturally hesitated to pursue a course which he 
recognized as inferior to that which he was completing. There 
is only one corrective for this situation, heroic but necessary. 
Schools of the lower grade must be divorced from schools of the 
higher. 

e. In large measure, the largest perhaps, to the meager 
compensation of the minister. This is a problem of the Christian 
world, not alone of China, but particularly acute here. The com- 
pensation of the average minister has not risen much above the 
standard wages of the coolie, where it began. There seems to be 
a tendency to resent the desire of the Chinese for more adequate 
compensation and to regard them as mercenary. The attitude of 
some of the missions is doubtless due to their desire to spread out 
their slender funds as widely as possible. Instead of concen- 
trating on a limited number of better paid men they have chosen 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 165 

to engage as many men as possible on a minimum wage, which in 
many cases comes close to being a starvation wage. In other cases 
it is due to the desire of the missions to hasten self-support. This 
attitude can not fail to have a serious bearing on the question of 
the supply for the ministry. 



IV. The Solution of the Problems 

No speedy cure of this situation can be offered. Only 
by a slow process of evolution can the desired change be brought 
abouti The way to begin, however, is to begin, and we desire to 
offer certain specific recommendations. 

276. The problem of the ministry can never be solved until 
the questions of recognition and compensation are adjusted. We 
appreciate the fact that the independent churches themselves de- 
termine the salaries of their pastors, yet it can not be questioned 
that they are still susceptible to the influence of the missionary. 
We recommend that the Christian forces inaugurate a definite pol- 
icy whereby they shall assure to their prospective graduates in 
theology positions of influence and independence wherein they 
shall have a standing equal to that of missionaries of equal train- 
ing, shall have full opportimity to exercise initiative in the de- 
velopment of their churches and shall receive adequate compensa- 
tion enabling them to live in their sphere of life on the same 
standard as missionaries live in theirs. The desire for an ade- 
quate living must not be treated as an unworthy motive. We 
would not inculcate the idea that the ministry is an occupation 
in which a man receives a compensation equal to that which 
he would receive in other callings. We would remind them that 
the Master whom they serve "for their sakes became poor." But 
"the laborer is worthy of his hire" and the Christian churches in 
China must learn that their ministers deserve a compensation which 
will give them a comfortable living, enable them to devote their 
whole attention to their work, and live without the pall of poverty 
hanging over their heads. We must not overlook the Chinese 
custom, whereby the son of the household has certain responsibili- 



i66 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ties for the support of his father's family. We can not shut our 
eyes to the fact that the young man has to make his choice among 
three professions which missions have exalted, that of the doctor, 
the teacher and the minister. In the first two professions the 
standard of compensation is distinctly higher than that of the 
ministry. It is not strange that the young men are drawn to one 
and not to the other. 

One of the churches at work in China has set a standard 
of compensation for its pastors which is distinctly higher than 
that of all others. It is not denied that this is the church which 
has been able to build up the largest group of well-trained ministers. 

277. The inauguration of the policy which we urge will 
doubtless necessitate the dropping of some men of lower grade 
because of the lack of funds ; but as has been demonstrated in 
all walks of life, a smaller number of well-trained men will accom- 
plish more than a larger number of poorly-trained men. We be- 
lieve that the missions must begin at this point in the elevation of 
the ministry. 

278. We recommend that all standard theological schools 
and departments set as their minimum requirement for admission 
the completion of a full junior college course and that they ar- 
range a course of theological study of variable length, in general 
not less than three years. The course should be so constructed 
that a man may finish a certain definite amount of preparation at 
the end of each year. On the successful completion of the sec- 
ond year's work he should be entitled to the degree of A. B., and 
at the end of the fourth year's work to the degree of B. D. Prep- 
aration for the ministry should be the determining factor in the 
selection of the subjects for this course, but it should include 
much work of general cultural value. 

We have a strong conviction that an adequate training is 
essential to the type of ministry needed in China. On the other 
hand; we wish to leave no doubt that we are concerned first of 
all with the spirit and character of the men who are to enter 
this calling. Unless they feel strongly the call of God to min- 
ister to their fellow men they will not be able successfully to 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 167 

offer the cup of cold water in His name. Unless they are men 
whose character and life reflect the beauty and glory of Christ 
they will not turn many to righteousness. It will be as true in 
the Orient as in the Occident that only those men who are actuated 
by the highest motives, whose characters have been thoroughly 
transformed, who are filled with the Spirit of God, can become 
good ministers of Jesus Christ. These are the men for whom 
we covet the highest education. 

279. We recommend that the theological schools be disso- 
ciated from all departments open to students who have not com- 
pleted the junior college course and that the preparation of these 
men be left to institutions located elsewhere. Courses of markedly 
different degrees ought not to be given on the same campus. In 
case the institution feels an obligation which it can not escape to 
train also the men of lower grade, these students should reside 
and receive their instruction in a different compound. This will 
increase the burdens of the instructors, but it is essential in our 
judgment to the elevation of the ministry. 

280. We recommend that the theological school shall, wher- 
ever possible, be a part of a university, being located on the same 
campus with the other departments, and that the students have a 
real share in the university life. They will thus have the advan- 
tage of the college courses and their presence will make an ap- 
peal for the ministry to the other college students. The associa- 
tion of the students in other departments with the students in 
theology, whose personality and grade of work they must re- 
spect, will have a decided influence in leading college men to con- 
sider the ministry favorably. This policy will also decrease the 
cost of a proper theological education by making available to the 
student in theology the courses in other departments of the college 
which are essential to his proper training. 

281. We recommend that the instruction in the theological 
schools be partly in English and partly in Chinese, assuring stu- 
dents sufficient mastery of English to enable them to read Eng- 
lish books fluently, and sufficient mastery of Chinese to make 
them proficient in the use of the best type of their own language. 



i68 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

In this connection we would also point out the importance of hav- 
ing a larger percentage of Chinese members in the faculty. This 
is essential to the best training of the ministry. Moreover, Chris- 
tianity must be interpreted by the Chinese themselves before it 
can become a genuine possession. We realize the difficulties which 
the schools face in finding men of the right calibre who are suf- 
ficiently well trained for these positions. It will be some time 
before there is a sufficient number of men qualified, but as rapidly 
as they become available they should be secured. The present 
method of appointing teachers in our schools makes it difficult 
also to secure the appointment of these men. We hope that the 
Boards and missions will soon adopt a pohcy whereby men may 
be selected for the faculties of our schools because of their fitness 
for the particular tasks rather than because they are available from 
the missionary staff. This will be a great step ahead in all our 
mission schools. 

282, There is need in China of a careful study of the theo- 
logical curriculum. Such a study has apparently never been made. 
We have simply transplanted into the Orient the traditional sys- 
tem of the Occident, none too good for the West, certainly not 
ideal for the East. A thorough first-hand study ought to be made 
of the exact type of education which the student in China needs. 
Certain obvious facts will need to be taken into account. 

a. The ministry of China must be largely a rural min- 
istry. The people live mainly in small villages ; the churches 
must be established there and most of the men must be prepared 
to minister in villages, not in cities. This fact in itself will have 
an important bearing on the character of the curriculum. 

b. The task of the minister in China will be largely one 
of religious education. He will have to begin at the bottom in 
the training of people in a system of ideas and ideals that are en- 
tirely foreign to them. They have no foundation upon which he 
may build. He must create it. At present he is largely a pro- 
claimer and exhorter, but this conception of his task must give 
way to a much broader one. The minister in China must be first 
of all and always an evangelist. It is his business to proclaim 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 169 

the good news to a people to whom it will long be a strange mes- 
sage. But the minister must also be an educator. He must lead 
his people to an understanding and adoption of a system of 
thought and of life that is foreign to them. A thorough training 
in the principles of religious education must therefore have an 
important place in his own theological education. 

c. The task of the church in China is even more largely 
a social task than in the countries of the West. Christianity can 
not triumph until a new social order is created. The Christian 
church must be the creative agency. The minister must, there- 
fore, be trained to become the leader in all things that will make 
for the transformation and Christianization of his community. 
There is no place in the world where the task is more formidable. 
Only a man who is thoroughly trained and well equipped can hope 
to make any impression on this ancient system, which must be 
permeated with a new spirit and virtually transformed. 

d. The message of the minister in China as everywhere 
else must come primarily from the Bible. He must therefore 
know this Book. But because he has not behind him centuries 
of interpretation as has the student of the West he will require 
more diligent study of the Scriptures. The school must not take 
too much for granted. In its curriculum there should be large 
place for this study. We must train a group of scholars for the 
church in China and there must therefore be some men thoroughly 
familiar with both the Testaments in the original tongues, but 
most of the students will need too much work of a more practical 
nature to devote themselves to a study of Greek and Hebrew. 
The Scriptures arose out of a civilization quite as different from 
that of China as from that of the Occident, and the young 
minister must be taught to find the application of their message 
to the civilization of which he is a part. This is not an easy task. 

Tiiese and other principles ought to underly the cur- 
riculum of the Chinese student. We recommend that the theo- 
logical schools make a determined effort to work out courses of 
study that shall be peculiarly adapted to the situation in China. 
283. The number of theological schools now established is 



170 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

sufficiently large and they are sufficiently well located to meet the 
need of the Christian church in China for many years to come. 
Effort should now be made to strengthen the institutions already 
estabhshed. We desire, therefore, urgently to discourage the es- 
tablishment of any new institutions. In fact we believe that wise 
use of mission funds and forces demands closing some of the 
institutions already established. There are not enough well quali- 
fied men available in China adequately to staff the schools already 
in operation. All emphasis should now be placed on bringing the 
stronger institutions up to standard. A school with a faculty of 
only three or four men, no matter how well qualified, can lay little 
claim to being a standard institution. The number of full-time 
teachers required in institutions of different types will vary, but 
no theological school should be satisfied with a staff of less than 
seven full time men, and probably there should be one school 
having double this number. 

284. In view of the importance of giving a practical education 
to the Chinese ministry it is essential that the teachers should be 
not only scholarly men but men of practical experience, who fully 
understand the nature of the work which the minister in China 
will have to do. Practical experience in church work abroad 
is not sufficient, since the conditions are so different. Whether a 
man should have had a term of service as an evangelistic worker 
before joining the stafif of a theological school is a disputed ques- 
tion, but whether he has or not, certainly during his period of 
instruction he should have constant contact with the active work 
of the churches. The doctrinaire will accomplish little in the 
theological schools of China. 

Although we believe that all members of the faculty 
should have constant experience in the actual work of the churches, 
we urge that each institution include in its staflf one man not over- 
burdened with other demands, who shall undertake the super- 
vision of the extra-curriculum and practical work of the students. 
We regard this as most important. The Chinese minister as a 
rule has not yet learned the proper use of his time or how to under- 
take his parish work. He needs the constant help of a wise, prac- 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 171 

tical adviser. Such a man may conceivably become the most im- 
portant man on the faculty. He ought to be most carefully selected 
and his appointment ought not to be delayed in any institution. 

285. The time is rapidly approaching, more rapidly we fear 
than some missions recognize, when men of limited education will 
not be of great value in the ministry. As long ago as the Edin- 
burgh Missionary Conference a strong pronouncement on this mat- 
ter was made from China. We believe that the missions ought now 
to face the issue frankly and bravely, and lay their plans to cease, 
at an early date, training men who have not had a full middle 
school education. The use of men with less education is too 
wasteful of the precious funds entrusted to the missions. The 
continued employment of low-grade men will prevent the enlist- 
ment of the higher grade men. 

We recognize, however, that there will be for many years 
a place for high-grade Bible Training Schools which shall accept 
men of middle school education and for the present men of equiva- 
lent education under the old system, and give them a practical train- 
ing for their work. We heartily commend the high-grade Bible 
schools. We wish that these composed the entire list but we regret 
that many of the present schools are of very low grade, serve 
little purpose, and ought to be abolished. 

286. We believe that there is no justification for the present 
number of schools. How can one small province, for example, 
defend the maintenance of nine schools for women, seven for men, 
and be planning for the establishment of others? This is a distinct 
misappropriation of workers and of money and can not be justified 
on any grounds. The present number of seventy-one such schools 
for men ought to be reduced by at least fifty per cent. Concentra- 
tion in this field would enable the missions to maintain a limited 
number of creditable schools of the greatest usefulness. The re- 
sults of concentration in the field of the theological schools indicate 
the possibilities in this field also. If it is practicable to train the 
higher grade men together it ought to be possible to train those of 
lower grade in this way. 

In this connection we suggest that the courses of study 



172 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

in the Bible schools should be so organized that it would be pos- 
sible for men to come for two or more years of study, then go 
out for practical experience, and later return to finish their 
academic work. The adoption of such a plan would enable the 
missions to begin at once the raising of the standard of their 
ministry. 

287. In the field of women's education a similar policy ought 
to be pursued. The missions must make adequate provision for 
the training of women. As women acquire a larger degree of 
liberty in China there will be an increasing demand for their 
services in the church. But such women ought to be of a high 
quality and well trained. We fear that the present plans are 
neither economical nor efficient. There are thirty-eight schools in 
the present list of Bible training schools for women, of which it 
is impossible, from the reports, to make any classification. This 
list doubtless includes several schools for adult women which 
give practically no training for evangelistic work, but even with 
this discount the number of schools is probably too large and it is 
evident that many of them are of low grade. The representatives 
of some of these schools complain that their chief difficulty is 
in securing an adequate number of competent students, "com- 
petent either intellectually or spiritually." Should we persist 
in maintaining schools for which there is no demand ? 

288. We recognize the need of schools which take adult 
women and give them a bit of practical education that will make 
them happier and more useful in their homes. But we are speak- 
ing here only of the Bible training schools. We strongly recom- 
mend that the missions cooperate in the maintenance of a much 
smaller number of Bible schools of higher grade. Those schools 
should be of two grades, one for graduates of middle schools and 
one for the graduates of higher primary schools. Others should 
be discontinued, as they do not justify the investment. In addition 
we believe that the Christian colleges for women should give 
definite place to the education of Christian workers among their 
students. This may necessitate the addition of departments of 
religious education and social service, but the investment will be 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 173 

well made. An increasing number of the women graduates should 
find their places in the service of the church. 

In this connection we recommend that theological schools be 
freely open to women on the same terms as to men and that 
women be welcomed in all the class rooms. We do not expect that 
a large number of women will desire to pursue these courses, but 
it should be made perfectly clear that the Christian church in 
China will close no door of opportunity to them. 

289. There is one problem which the missions ought to face 
anew wath seriousness, namely that of student aid. It is an old 
problem on the mission field and it is perhaps too much to hope 
that a problem which the churches at home have never solved may 
be solved in China, but it is much more serious here. All mis- 
sions will agree that the present conditions are most undesirable. 

It is clear that students for the ministry should be treated 
on the same principle as any other students. Discrimination causes 
the greatest difficulties, and tends to the deterioration of the charac- 
ter of the students. We believe that scholarships and loans are dis- 
tinctly preferable to direct gifts. The principle of rewards on 
the scholarship basis is by all means the soundest and if it could 
be adopted would aid materially in the solution of this difficult 
problem. This is probably too much to hope for in the immediate 
future. The loan system would stand next to that of scholarships. 
It has been adopted in America by one of the largest communions 
for assistance to all students who require aid, and loans are made 
on the same terms to all classes of students. The loan system can 
hardly be put into effect in China in any drastic way until the 
salaries of the ministers are raised so that men can repay their 
loans after graduation. We earnestly hope that a change in the 
matter of salaries will soon be inaugurated making possible the 
adoption of the loan system in place of the present system of 
gifts and sustenance. 

290. It is not within the province of this report to discuss 
at length the methods by which young men and women may be 
induced to give themselves to the work of the church. We can not 
refrain from urging, however, that every legitimate means be used 



174 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

to lead choice young people to dedicate their lives to this service. 
This problem has long been on the hearts of many of the friends 
of China who have given it serious consideration. We share their 
conviction that there is scarcely any problem facing the churches 
or the missions which is more serious to-day. We would suggest 
that on the one hand we need to make constant efforts to lead 
men into the ministry, and that on the other hand we need to guard 
the entrance most carefully. It is difficult to secure the right men. 
It is easy for the wrong men to slip in. 

The methods of various missions and churches differ 
widely and no uniform system is possible if desirable. We urge, 
however, that in every mission each candidate be examined by 
a committee composed largely of Chinese before he is sent to the 
schools as a beneficiary of the church or of mission funds. Care 
at this end will not only weed out unworthy men but will tend 
to raise the standard of the men entering the ministry. 

V. Religious Education 

291. We have already called attention to the importance of 
religious education as an element in training for the ministry. We 
desire now only to emphasize the responsibility of the theological 
schools to train workers other than pastors in the distinct field of re- 
ligious education. It is only recently that we have begun to work 
out the science of religious education in the western world, but we 
have gone far enough in our experiments to realize how important 
it is in the development of the church life. If it has an im- 
portant place in the church life of the Occident how much 
more important it is in the life of the Orient, where there is no 
Christian background and so much work of a fundamental charac- 
ter to be done. The scientific principles which have been worked 
out in the West must be applicable in the East, but the exact form 
of their application must be determined here. It is at this point 
that the theological schools should make a great contribution. 
Much original and experimental work needs to be done in this 
field and no institutions are in a better position to undertake 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 175 

this task. It will require the addition of thoroughly trained men 
to the faculty, but the schools can scarcely render a greater service 
to the church in China than by working out the application of 
the scientific principles of religious education, and then training 
selected groups of men and women who will devote their lives 
to this field. China needs a multitude of workers of this character. 



VI. Education for Social Workers 

292. There is another field of education which the theological 
schools ought immediately to enter. There is a demand for 
thoroughly trained social workers, both men and women. This 
demand will certainly manifest itself with increasing acceleration 
in the near future, and is one to which the Christian school can 
not afford to be deaf. One of the most impressive phases of the 
new life in China is the interest which many of the people are 
manifesting in social service. Large sums of money are being 
contributed for this purpose. Social centers are being organ- 
ized by the Chinese themselves, modelled often after the pattern 
of the Young Men's Christian Association. In this new awaken- 
ing we must heartily rejoice. It is a result of the seed which 
we have sown. We can not expect that the missions or the 
churches will be able to direct all these activities and this is 
not to be desired. But the church can train the workers and so 
put the stamp of Christianity upon the work. The church can 
not afford to permit this opportunity to pass out of its hands. It 
must address itself to this task energetically. 

The institutions best equipped to undertake this training 
are the Class A theological schools and the Class A Bible Training 
Schools for women, provided these institutions are located in close 
proximity to Christian colleges. The schools and colleges in 
combination are already equipped to give much of the necessary 
training, but other courses directed primarily to practical training 
should be added. This will require without doubt some increase 
in the staff, but the opportunity must not be allowed to slip and 
unless it is grasped quickly it will be too late. These institutions, 



176 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

pertneated with the Christian spirit, can best furnish the atmos- 
phere in which such training should be taken. The solution of the 
tremendous social problems in China must be found in the 
activity of religious factors and forces. Moreover, a considerable 
portion of China's social workers must, for a long time at least, be 
the Christian ministers and these men must have a training that 
will qualify them for their work. It is a great challenge which 
the social conditions of China present to the followers of Jesus. 
We can not be deaf to that challenge. 



VII. Summary of Recommendations 

(i). Effort should be made by missions and churches to 
raise the standard of compensation for the ministry, 

(2). Standard theological schools and departments should 
require the completion of a junior college course for admission. 
The course should be of three to five years. 

(3). Theological schools should be dissociated from all work 
of lower grade and should be closely related to universities. 

(4). Instruction should be in English and in Chinese. 

(5). The whole question of the curriculum should be care- 
fully studied in the light of the needs of China. 

(6). The number of schools should be limited. 

(7). A limited number of high grade Bible schools should 
be maintained and only good schools should be continued. 

(8). All educational facilities should be open to women and 
men alike on the same terms, and Bible schools for women should 
be strengthened. 

(9). Religious education and education for social workers 
should be developed. 



CHAPTER VI 
MEDICAL EDUCATION 

I. History and Present Status of Medical Education 

293. Medical work in China dates back to 1827 when Thomas 
Richardson Colledge landed in Macao and opened a dispensary. 
The following year he moved to Canton. In 1835 Peter Parker 
opened the Canton Christian Hospital and began to train Chinese 
to act as his assistants. These hospital assistants were the fore- 
runners of the Chinese medical profession. 

The care of the sick was so natural an expression of the 
spirit of Christianity, and it furnished such an effective entering 
wedge for the presentation of the gospel, that early in their history 
the missions began to open hospitals and establish training schools. 
The result has been a system of Christian medical institutions 
which has spread over every part of the Republic in which the 
gospel is preached. Practically every mission in China has one 
or more hospitals, and at many points the medical school has 
followed the hospital. 

As western education and ideas have spread, the Chinese 
also have begun to take an interest in medical work, and a few 
hospitals and medical schools have been founded by them. 

294. The longest step forward in this field was taken when, 
in 1914, the Rockefeller Foundation sent its representatives to 
China to make a study of the situation in regard to medical work 
and to advise the Foundation whether it should undertake to 
supplement the work of the Christian missions. The result of this 
and successive studies has been to lead the Foundation to under- 
take medical work in a large way. The opening of the Peking 

177 



178 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Union Medical School, and the appropriations made by the 
Foundation to several other medical schools and to many hospitals, 
have marked the beginning of a new day for medical education in 
China. 

295. At the present time there are twenty-nine medical 
schools of various grades in China. Sixteen of these are under 
Chinese control ; eleven are under foreign direction ; two are man- 
aged cooperatively by Chinese and Westerners. Of the Chinese 
colleges three are supported by the central government, seven by 
provincial governments, and six by private corporations, one of the 
latter being a college for women. Of the foreign controlled col- 
leges two are maintained by foreign governments, eight by Mission 
Boards, and one by the Rockefeller Foundation in cooperation with 
several missionary societies. 

296. The location of these institutions is most interesting. 
Twenty-two are located in the provinces which border on the 
Pacific Ocean. Only two are in the far interior, one in Hunan and 
one in Szechwan. The location of the Christian schools is worth 
noting. The list is as follows : Moukden, Peking, Tsinan, Shang- 
hai, Hangchow, Foochow, Canton, Changsha, and Chengtu. 

297. The exact enrollment of these institutions has not been 
ascertained, but the latest reports indicate that there are somewhat 
over two thousand students of whom ninety-five are women. These 
ninety-five are divided among the three women's colleges and the 
ten schools which admit both men and women. The enrollment in 
the Christian schools is reported as 441. With one-third of the 
schools we are educating a little more than one quarter of the total 
number of students. The largest schools are those maintained by 
the government. In twenty-four of the twenty-nine colleges there 
are 404 faculty members. This gives an average staff of about 
seventeen to each institution, but the number ranges from four in 
one school to forty-three in another. 

298. The equipment of most of the schools is very meager. 
In this respect the mission schools are quite the equals, if not the 
superiors of the government schools. Many of the government 
institutions have little or no laboratory equipment, and in some of 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 179 

them practically all the instruction is given by the lecture system. 
The student's knowledge of the human body is largely restricted 
to what he has gained from pictures in his text books. Until re- 
cently it has been difficult to secure material for dissection. The 
scholastic standards differ as much as the physical equipment. 

299. In addition to the medical schools there are several hos- 
pitals which have certain educational features. A few of these 
offer internships, which make it possible for graduates of the medi- 
cal schools to have a year of hospital experience, including in- 
struction from the foreign physician and supervision of their work. 
A few hospitals are training assistants who are able to carry 
limited responsibilities in the hospitals. Still others are training 
nurses, both men and women. 

There are approximately three hundred hospitals of 
various grades scattered over China. These include every type 
of institution, from one-room buildings to the magnificent equip- 
ment of the Peking Union Medical Hospital, one of the finest 
and best equipped hospitals in the world. 

300. It is scarcely within the province of a report on med- 
ical education to deal with the hospital situation at any length. 
This report is concerned with hospitals only in so far as they 
are educational institutions. It is, however, pertinent to call at- 
tention to the varying character of these institutions, because of 
their direct bearing upon the future ideals of the Chinese people. 
Many of the hospitals are models in every way, clean, well ar- 
ranged, well conducted, and thoroughly creditable. On the other 
hand, there are others which reflect little credit upon the missions 
which are supporting them or the doctors who are directing them. 
Some of the buildings are of such a character that no Christian 
mission ought to permit their continuance. They are unsafe and 
unsanitary. The Westerner is accustomed to associate the idea 
of cleanliness with a hospital, but some of these hospitals are 
little less than filthy. It is difficult to understand how representa- 
tives of the medical profession can permit the existence of some 
of the conditions we have noticed. They are not, to say the 
least, setting before the Chinese a standard of which we can be 



i8o CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

proud. For the sake of our influence would it not be better to 
close some institutions, rather than to conduct them in such a way 
as to reflect discredit upon the Christian ideal ? 

301. Our survey of the whole field has revealed the fact that 
medical education has been developed to a larger degree than any 
other type of education included in the Christian system in China. 
This is a perfectly natural result of the motive which underlies 
missions. This advantage has been emphasized by the large in- 
vestments of the China Medical Board, not only in their splendid 
plant in Peking but in other medical schools, pre-medical schools, 
and hospitals. To the marked advance in standards of hospitals 
and medical education which has taken place in recent years the 
China Missionary Medical Association has also largely contributed. 



II. Relation of the Medical Schools and Hospitals to the Christian 

Movement 

302. The original motive for the development of medical 
work in non-Christian lands was, without doubt, a mixed one. 
It was both philanthropic and evangelistic. On the part of the 
medical missionary himself the predominating element was doubt- 
less philanthropic. His heart was stirred within him as he wit- 
nessed the suffering and agony of the people to whom he had 
come to represent his Master. When he found that in China, 
every other man, woman and child, whom he met on the street, 
was in some way diseased he could not remain unmoved. He was 
impelled to bring such help as he could. At the same time he 
discovered that there was no more effective avenue of approach 
to the non-Christian mind than the healing of the ills of the body. 
His hospital became a most effective evangelizing force. Prob- 
ably the same combination of motives has obtained in the minds 
of the constituency at home, but in different proportions. They 
have given generously to the extension of the medical work, chiefly 
because of the abundant evidence of its evangelizing efficacy, but 
with an increasing susceptibility to its philanthropic appeal and 



MEDICAL EDUCATION i8i 

a growing recognition of the necessity of the philanthropic ex- 
pression of the Christian spirit. 

303. It is becoming increasingly evident that medical mis- 
sions are no longer needed to pry open the doors for the presenta- 
tion of the gospel. In fact it is already clear that the Christian 
schools are much more effective agents for the purpose. The 
adherents to Christianity won in the Christian schools every year 
far outnumber those won by the hospitals. Moreover, the students 
are those with whom the future of China rests. We shall not need 
to open many more hospitals purely as evangelizing agencies. But 
this does not mean that the time has come to decrease medical work. 
It has distinct values both for the present and the future. 

304. It is essential to develop in China the spirit of Christian 
brotherhood, which shall manifest itself outside of the relationships 
of the family or the clan. One can not fail to be impressed with 
the fact that Christian philanthropy has not yet been manifested in 
any large way by the Chinese. Their meager development of medi- 
cal work in spite of the example set by foreign missionary forces, 
indicates that until they discover how fundamental it is to the 
whole Christian movement, medical missions must be continued. 

As the Christian community develops the spirit of phil- 
anthropy, and as its resources increase it will itself, little by little, 
take over this phase of the Christian movement and the missions 
will rejoice to put in in their hands. But for an indefinite period 
we must continue to perfect our medical education that we may 
train native doctors and nurses. The genius of our contribution 
does not demand more schools of medicine, but it does demand 
much better schools. 



III. Scope of Medical and Pre-Medical Education 

305. The requirements for admission to the medical schools 
differ materially. The government schools admit middle school 
graduates, most of whom have little instruction in physics, chem- 
istry or biology. Most of the Christian schools require subjects 
which can be covered by two years of pre-medical college work. 



i82 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

The Peking Union Medical College requires three years of study 
after the middle school as it is at present organized and, because 
there are few colleges which can give satisfactory pre-medical 
preparation, Peking maintains a pre-medical school of its own. 
It will discontinue this as soon as the colleges are equipped to give 
their students satisfactory pre-medical training. 

306. If the new system of education which has been recom- 
mended by the National Associated Educational Associations is 
adopted it ought to be possible for students to meet the require- 
ments of the standard medical schools, including Peking, after 
two years of college work. But whether or not the new system 
is adopted we are convinced that the medical schools ought not to 
require more pre-medical work of the colleges than can legitimately 
be given in the first two years of the college course. If more prep- 
aration is required, it should be given by the medical schools them- 
selves, or in the associated universities, in a pre-medical year. The 
colleges should not be burdened with pre-medical work extending 
beyond the first two years of their course. 

307. Two factors must be taken into account in considering 
the amount of research work which ought to be undertaken by 
medical schools. On the one hand a spirit and atmosphere of re- 
search are essential to good teaching. On the other hand a small 
staff can give but limited time to research. Because of its unusual 
staff and equipment a large amount of such work may be expected 
at Peking. The research work in other schools will by force of cir- 
cumstances be limited until they are adequately staffed. For the 
present they will be obliged to depend to a large degree upon the 
results of the work in Peking, and of a few individuals who may 
here and there have opportunity to investigate some particular 
local problems. 

IV. Schools of Pharmacy 

308. The question whether the Christian medical colleges 
should establish schools of pharmacy has been raised. One or two 
have entered this field in a small way through instruction given by 
the pharmacist of the staff. 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 183 

It is the judgment of the Commission that our schools 
should not take up this work. Except in the remote districts it is 
not difficult to secure drugs. They can be purchased in all the 
large cities and can be ordered from abroad. We are advised by 
leading physicians that this is a restricted field and that there is no 
necessity for the Christian schools to enter it. It is a form of 
education in which Christianity will have limited opportunity to 
express itself and the task resting upon the Christian forces is so 
great that this particular form of work may well be left to other 
institutions. 



V. Public Health Education 

309. Physicians are more and more emphasizing the im- 
portance of preventive medicine. They are seeking not so much to 
cure people who are ill as to prevent people from becoming ill. 
Public health education is therefore becoming an increasingly im- 
portant factor in their ministry. An educated Chinese physician 
says: 

"In the past public health was practically absent from 
the Chinese mind. Thinkers hardly ever gave a thought to it. 
Writers scarcely ever wrote a line on it. Teachers knew practically 
nothing about it and, consequently, never taught it. Generation 
after generation, from infancy till old age, the Chinese people have 
formed unhygienic habits so that they have felt rather at home 
with unsanitary conditions which, to the foreigners, are almost 
unbearable " 

One cannot walk the streets of any Chinese city without 
being impressed with the overwhelming importance of such edu- 
cation in the Orient. China has no appreciation of the relation of 
sanitation to health. The average life in China is abnormally short 
and a large percentage of the children die during their first year. 
The land is constantly swept by great epidemics which carry off 
millions of people. All these conditions could be prevented if the 
people understood the simplest laws of health. When one faces 
the immensity of the need he is staggered ; yet there is abundant 



i84 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

evidence that conditions can be bettered and the health of the people 
greatly improved. Most encouraging progress has been made 
during the past few years. A short time ago, during the epidemic 
of cholera in Fukien, remarkable results were secured from the 
educational work which was done during a few weeks. Great 
credit is due the Council on Health Education for the work already 
accomplished. The prospect is that the properly trained health 
officer will in the future save far more lives than the physician. 

310. It is evident that there is a large field here for the ex- 
pression of the same spirit of Christianity which has manifested 
itself in the maintenance of hospitals. The medical schools should 
give their attention to the training of young men and women who 
can go into the field of health education. It is only recently that 
schools of public health have been established in America, but 
the movement must not lag behind in China where the need is 
vastly greater. This is a most important field for the medical 
schools and some of them ought to enter it in the near future. We 
believe that funds for such work will be forthcoming and that 
the missions ought not to hesitate to undertake it. It is much more 
important in our judgment than to send out large numbers of 
foreign doctors to man hospitals. It is hopeless to attempt to cure 
the ills of China simply by healing the sick. The obstacles are 
too great. But the Christian forces can render immeasurable ser- 
vice to the Republic of China by training men and women to enter 
the field of health education. 

311. We therefore recommend that one or two Christian 
medical schools enter the specific field of training men for public 
health work in the near future. We further recommend that as 
soon as possible the Christian forces in China undertake this new 
task of public health education in as large a way as their finances 
will permit. We believe that this field offers the Christian church 
its largest opportunity to manifest the spirit of philanthropy which 
underlies the whole Christian movement. Christianity could do 
nothing more eflfective for China and nothing that would further 
its own cause more rapidly. 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 185 

VI. Hospitals with Educational Features 

312. We recommend that the Christian forces at work in 
China shall not increase the number of medical schools now under 
their direction, but shall rather strengthen some of those which 
are already in existence. We believe that this is essential if we 
are to continue to exert influence in this field of Christian activity. 
In addition to the medical schools, however, a limited number of 
hospitals may well maintain educational features. This privilege 
and responsibility should, however, belong only to the stronger 
institutions. The hospitals which are not adequately staffed and 
financed should not burden themselves with this work. 

313. There are various educational needs which may be thus 
met. It is a distinct advantage to the graduate of a medical school to 
have at least one year of internship in a strong hospital where, 
under the supervision of the medical staff, he may begin his active 
medical work. The hospitals which are sufficiently well staffed to 
do so should offer the privileges of internship to a limited number 
of graduates each year. This will add to the burdens of the doctors, 
but it will contribute materially to the advancement of the medical 
profession. 

314. Every hospital feels the necessity of training its own 
staff of nurses. Unfortunately most of these hospitals are not ade- 
quately manned to do this work efficiently. Every hospital should 
have at least two foreign nurses upon its staff. Not every hospital 
can have the assistance of an interne or house surgeon. But every 
hospital must have nurses. There is, moreover, a great need of 
nurses in schools and for outside work, especially w^iere there are 
but few physicians. Formerly the hospitals trained so-called hos- 
pitals assistants, but this practice has been discontinued because 
of the tendency of men so trained to set up as physicians with 
risk to their patients and to the disrepute of the profession. It is 
the judgment of competent physicians that the need which the 
hospital assistant was intended to meet can be met more effectively 
and more safely by thoroughly trained nurses, both men and 
women. 



i86 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

315. This calls for a school for nurses, to which candidates 
should be admitted only after a middle school course, and in which 
they should receive systematic instruction and training extending 
over a period of years. Such a school can manifestly be maintained 
only in connection with a well-staffed hospital, and should not be 
undertaken by any other. But as an adjunct to a hospital able 
to undertake the work, the service rendered is only second in im- 
portance to that of a medical school, and more advisable than the 
maintenance of a medical school with inadequate equipment and 
staff. Nurses graduated from such a school should be certified as 
graduate nurses, and in such a way as to prevent their being ac- 
cepted as physicians. 

316. There has been much discussion of a school for techni- 
cians, men and women who with a knowledge of chemistry, bac- 
teriology and some other subjects of the pre-medical and medical 
course, can make analyses of urine and blood, prepare slides and 
cultures, make microscopical examinations and keep records. It 
has been suggested that a school for technicians with a stafif of 
eight or ten instructors should be established in connection with 
some hospital. Such information as the Commision has been able 
to secure leads them to believe that for the present this work should 
be done by the stronger medical schools, or that if organized in 
connection with a hospital it should be on a much more modest 
scale than has been proposed. 

317. A third and very important form of educational work 
which can be done by a hospital with adequate stafif is in the field 
of public health. Beside the work of the medical school, there is 
a definite task for the hospital. Every hospital adjacent to a 
Christian school should cooperate with the faculty of the school 
in preventing disease among the faculty and student body. 
See Section 189. But there is also a large opportunity for serv- 
ice in the community adjacent to the hospital. The prevention 
of disease is certainly quite as appropriate a function of the 
Christian physician and hospital as the treating of chronic ulcers, 
or setting broken bones. The Commission commends to all 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 187 

hospitals able to undertake work in this field the plans of the 
Council of Health Education. 

By extending its activities in one or more of these direc- - 
tions within the limits of its ability a hospital may render a phil- 
anthropic service of first-class importance. 



VII. Future Developments 

318. That in the system of Christian education in China 
medical education is far in advance of any other department has 
been pointed out above (Section 301). This is true whether one 
considers the equipment in buildings and apparatus, the annual 
expenditures, or the size of the faculties. The funds devoted to 
this type of education are far more than a proportionate share of 
the total amount contributed by the Mission Boards, reckoned on 
the basis of relative need. This is not at all strange in view of the 
effectiveness of the healing art in opening the doors for the gos- 
pel, or of the great need throughout China of unlimited means for 
alleviating the suffering and distress of the uncared-for multitudes. 

It is, however, both unnecessary and impossible for the 
Christian forces to maintain all the medical schools which are 
needed to provide an adequate number of physicians to minister to 
these hundreds of millions of people. It is impossible, for if all the 
missionary funds which are poured into China year by year were 
devoted to the maintenance of medical schools, these funds would 
not be sufficient to meet these needs. It is unnecessary because 
the responsibility rests primarily upon the Chinese people them- 
selves and they must not be relieved of the care of their fellow 
citizens. This responsibility is already being recognized and men 
of means are giving generously for the founding of such institu- 
tions. Only a beginning has as yet been made, but it is a beginning 
full of promise. The next few years will doubtless see large sums 
of money provided by the Chinese for the establishment of these 
institutions. 

319. So far as the number of medical schools to be main- 
tained by the foreign forces is concerned the limit of development 



i88 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

has in our judgment already been reached. Attention ought now 
to be devoted to strengthening existing schools and to develop- 
ing other essential features of a well-rounded system of Christian 
education. 

In no phase of education is quality more essential than 
in medicine. While we have a generous number of schools, a 
thoroughly satisfactory quality of education has not been achieved 
in more than one school. The expert advisers of the China Medical 
Board have properly called attention to the necessity of bringing 
the existing schools tip to grade. The greatest contribution which 
the foreign forces have to of?er to the Chinese in this matter is 
to show them what kind of an education they ought to give in the 
schools which they are to establish, and to furnish to the medical 
profession men, who, by their high Christian principles and char- 
acter, will help to maintain the ethical standards of the profession. 
All our schools ought to be models. By making them such we 
shall render the largest service. 

We must bear in mind also that there is a distinct advan- 
tage in developing one line of education to a point of approximate 
completeness as a standard to which others may then strive to 
attain. We have not indeed reached that point in our medical 
education, but we have more nearly attained it than in any other 
branch of professional education, and it will strengthen our influ- 
ence greatly, if by further investment in some of the institutions 
already established, we can make these models for China. Despite, 
therefore, the large proportionate investment already made in 
medical education, we urge the appropriation of additional funds 
in a few strategic institutions which shall become our outstanding 
contributions to the science of medical education in China, only 
advising that care be taken that the development of other educa- 
tional enterprises which are in more urgent need of funds be not 
unduly delayed. The whole scheme of Christian education ought 
to be taken into consideration when additional investments are con- 
templated. This has not always been the case. 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 189 

VIII. specific Recommendations 

320. Peking. — Every friend of Christian missions must 
rejoice in the establishment and development of the Peking Union 
Medical College. In place of the" small, struggling institution, 
formerly maintained by the missions, we now have one of the 
best-equipped medical colleges in the world. It can not fail to 
render a service of incalculable value to the health and strength 
of the Chinese nation and to the cause of Christian missions in 
this great Republic. Aside from the contribution to medical 
education it has set a new standard of quality for all education. 
By reason of the large investments of the China Medical Board, the 
cooperating missions, though still participating in the management, 
have been relieved of all financial responsibility for its mainten- 
ance. This has released funds which may now be used to develop 
our medical education at other points. The Commission hopes 
that these funds will be available for other projects greatly need- 
ing help. 

321. TsiNAN. — Next to the Union Medical College at Peking, 
the Medical School of the Shantung Christian University is doubt- 
less the best equipped mission medical school in China. Remark- 
able progress has been made in the last few years. A new hospital 
and laboratories have been erected. Residences have been provided 
and the stafif has been considerably increased. This institution has 
a distinct place in the Christian educational system of China. 
Medical authorities are well agreed that in view of its location and 
of the degree of development to which it has already attained, 
attention should at once be given to making this a first-class insti- 
tution. The Commission advises that the Boards which are par- 
ticipating in its maintenance should so far as possible, concentrate 
their first efforts on perfecting this school at Tsinan. 

322. Chengtu. — There are some who believe that the West 
China Union University acted prematurely in the estabhshment of 
a medical school in Szechwan. Of the need of it there can be 
no doubt. The university has been in operation only eleven years, 
and while it is organized on an ideal basis, its funds are at present 



190 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

limited. One who studies the situation in this western province, 
however, can well understand why the missions felt compelled to 
open a medical school as one of the first steps in the development 
of their university. Whether their decision was wise or not it is too 
late now to discuss. The house is built, not completely or as well 
as it should be, but too well to be destroyed. The medical school is 
a going concern. The missions are among the most progressive and 
the work in the whole province is most promising for the Christian 
movement. The Boards can not contemplate withdrawing from 
Chengtu. This means that the school must be strengthened. The 
staff should be increased so as to make possible a school which can 
set a worthy standard for medical education in the whole province. 
The hospitals are not well located for the best interests of the 
school and the missions are advised to consider whether a re- 
location at a point much nearer the medical school is not possible 
in the near future. This would add to the efficiency of the medical 
staff and conserve the time of the students. 

323. Changsha. — An interesting and promising experiment 
is being carried on in the Yale Mission at Changsha, which is 
conducting a middle school, a college, a medical school and a hos- 
pital. Founded and originally maintained by the alumni of Yale 
University, this institution has so commended itself to the gentry 
of Hunan that many of them have become interested in its main- 
tenance and are giving generously for the support of the medical 
work. As a demonstration of what can be done through the co- 
operation of Chinese and foreigners this school is a most valuable 
asset to Christian missions. 

For a period of many years the alumni of Yale have 
given generously to the support of this outstation of their univer- 
sity in the Orient. The question is now being raised as to whether 
some other colleges in America might not be interested in joining 
with Yale in strengthening this school. We believe that this sug- 
gestion should commend itself to the alumni of some other Amer- 
ican colleges. The cooperation of these alumni groups may prove 
to be one of the most promising methods of interesting the young 
men of America in the the uplift of China. 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 191 

Much is also to be hoped for from the Chinese of Hunan 
in the further development of this institution. It is too much to 
expect that in the near future they will assume the entire burden, 
but their cooperation should be sought in large measure. To the 
Chinese of Hunan and to the groups of American alumni we be- 
lieve this school should continue to look for its support rather than 
to the regular constituency of the denominational Boards. 

324. In view, however, of the high cost of medical education, 
the large proportion of the funds obtainable for Christian educa- 
tional work in China that is now going into medical education, the 
necessity of increasing this share if the existing medical schools 
are to be raised to the necessary standard of efficiency, and the 
difficulty of obtaining sufficient and competent faculties for medical 
schools of this grade, we raise the question whether the Yale 
Mission might not wisely limit its undertaking to a somewhat 
narrower range of work. If instead of a medical school it should 
decide to maintain a first-class hospital with educational features, 
including public health work, the training of nurses and, perhaps, 
of technicians, it seems probable that such a hospital would com- 
mand the support of the gentry of Hunan as fully as the medical 
school now does, and that the greater development of the college 
work which concentration on it would make possible, would serve 
to increase rather than to diminish the interest of American 
universities in the institution. If in addition this modification of 
Yale's plans should tend to hasten the development of the remain- 
ing medical schools by the transfer of its good will and a portion of 
its faculty to them, this would facilitate the attainment of our real 
goal In medical education, viz., a few schools adequately staffed 
and maintained. We venture therefore to commend the suggestion 
to the thoughtful consideration of the Yale Mission, 

325. MouKDEN. — Following their visit to China in 1914, the 
China Medical Commission of the Rockefeller Foundation made 
the following observation regarding the Medical School at 
Moukden : 

"Peking can be reached in one day from Moukden by 
express and in ordinary trains by two days' travel from sunrise 



192 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

to sunset. The language is practically the same in Peking and in 
Moukden, with the exception of very unimportant provincial 
variations. For this reason most of the students in Moukden 
could easily go to Peking for the medical training and it seems, 
therefore, useless to undertake a separate medical educational work 
in Manchuria under present circumstances, when the number of 
qualified students throughout the country, and the resources in 
men and money for the maintenance of the schools, are so limited. 
This is also the opinion of many of the leading medical mission- 
aries in China. Another reason for this conclusion is the fact 
that the Japanese government, acting through the South Manchu- 
rian Railway Company, a government-controlled corporation, has 
established there what seems likely to be a fairly efficient medical 
school." 

Since this report was submitted the Japanese government has 
developed this school into the second best equipped medical school 
in China. 

326. The Christian school in Moukden is the result of the 
self-sacrificing service of a little group of men who are giving their 
lives to this cause. Their spirit is most commendable and without 
question they are doing an efficient piece of work. They are send- 
ing out every other year a small group of men who are ministering 
to many of the needy people in Manchuria. Many of these men 
might not secure this education if they had to go to Peking or 
Tsinan, and some of them perhaps would not be willing to take 
their education in the Japanese school. 

In view, however, of the cost of maintaining a medical 
school of even moderate standard which must carry on its work 
by the side of this well-equipped government institution, and of the 
great need for the investment by the missions of much larger 
funds in the development of their middle schools and college, the 
Commission seriously questions the policy of further investment in 
this school at Moukden. The Commission would suggest to the 
Mission Boards that, unless they can arrange in the near future 
for the financing of this school by endowment or by funds guaran- 
teed for a period of years, which would not otherwise be available 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 193 

for mission work in Manchuria, the medical school should be dis- 
continued. We cannot look without concern upon the diversion 
of the limited funds which are available for work in this province 
from other educational enterprises much more essential to the 
development of the Christian community. 

Despite the strong and valid arguments for the continu- 
ance of this school the Commission is constrained to make this 
recommendation. If its suggestion is followed, and the permanent 
financing cannot be provided, the Commission believes that effort 
should be made to induce the provincial government which gave 
the land on which the building stands and which now makes an 
annual grant for the school, to consent that the property and the 
grant should be used for hospital purposes. It is further sug- 
gested that the hospital should maintain such educational features 
as are now maintained at certain other hospitals, such as training 
nurses, giving opportunity for experience to house surgeons or 
internes, and promoting public health. 

327. FoocHOw. — For some years a Union Medical College 
has been maintained in Foochow. The friends of the school, how- 
ever, have never been able to secure sufficient funds or men to 
maintain a high grade institution. It has been a constant strain 
upon the cooperating missions to conduct this school. Very wisely, 
its friends have acted in accordance with the suggestion of the 
China Medical Commission and have recently closed the institution. 
While this may mean that some men will not take a medical educa- 
tion who might have done so if the school had been maintained, 
yet the cooperating missions can, at much less expense to them- 
selves, send deserving students to some other point where the 
education can be secured. The province of Fukien has the largest 
Christian constituency of any of the provinces of China, and the 
efforts of the missions ought to be concentrated on providing an 
education for the large numbers of their young people. 

328. Canton. — The capital of Kwantung was the first city 
in China to have a hospital. In 1835 the Presbyterian mission 
established a dispensary and later a hospital in a most strategic 
location. This institution has rendered a most conspicuous service 



194 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

for these many years. The question of estabhshing a medical 
school on the basis of this hospital has been discussed at length 
year after year, but the discussion has never issued in the estab- 
lishment of a permanent institution. Several years ago the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania entered into cooperation with the Canton 
Christian College and opened a medical school on the campus of 
the college, but after a short experience this was discontinued. 
It would be most fortunate if this rich province had a strong 
medical school under the direction of the Christian forces. The 
time has now passed, however, when such a project should be 
launched. The Chinese are already taking a deep interest in 
medical education and two schools established by them are now in 
operation. Moreover, Hongkong University is developing its 
school of medicine and with an increasing equipment expects to 
make it an institution of standard grade. While this institution 
may not provide a medical education of just such a character as 
we might desire, yet in view of these undertakings and of the other 
great educational tasks in South China, the Commission is con- 
vinced that the missions should abandon all further efforts to 
establish a medical school and should concentrate their efforts 
upon their other educational work. There are several schools in the 
district which should have increased equipment and larger annual 
incomes. This is especially true of Canton Christian College. This 
institution has already attained an enviable position and has dem- 
onstrated its possibilities. The Commission believes that further 
investments in higher education in this province should be used 
to strengthen and enlarge this college. The results to the Christian 
community and in building up the Christian church in South China 
will be much greater by strengthening this school than by attempt- 
ing to build a medical school. The Commission therefore urges 
the Christian forces of Kwantung to abandon all thought of erect- 
ing a medical school and to concentrate their efforts on strengthen- 
ing their other educational work. 

The problems relating to the Hackett Medical School for 
women are dealt with in another section. 

329. Shanghai. — After a review of the whole situation the 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 195 

China Medical Commission of the Rockefeller Foundation, in 1914, 
made this declaration : "Shanghai seems to be after Peking by far 
the best location for a strong and widely influential medical 
school." 

There seems to be little dissent from this opinion, except 
that many believe that as a location for a medical school Shanghai 
is fully equal to Peking. This city, foreign though it is, is the gate- 
way to China. While it is not regarded with the same affection 
by the Chinese as Peking or Canton, it is, nevertheless, destined to 
continue to be the leading commercial city of China. It is growing 
rapidly in population and wealth. It is a center for publication 
and for organizations of all kinds. It is the terminus of the most 
important transportation routes of the country, putting it in direct 
communication with the whole eastern coast and a large part 
of the interior. It contains a larger population which, by its 
intelligence, progressiveness and wealth, gives promise of 
furnishing support for educational work than any other city in 
China. 

Here, moreover, the Christian enterprise has its center 
to an extent that is true of po other city in China. Here many 
of the Boards and Missions have their headquarters; more travel- 
lers from Christian lands come here than to any other point ; here 
it is possible to gather the alumni of colleges, foreign and Chinese, 
as nowhere else. Increasingly Shanghai will be the center of the 
Christian influences for the whole Republic. 

Furthermore, Shanghai is beyond any other city the edu- 
cational center for all Eastern China. Without a school located at 
this point there will be for' all East China, including the coast from 
Shanghai south, no Christian medical school, unless, indeed, the 
lack of it in Shanghai should unhappily lead to the establishment 
of one or more inadequately staffed schools at less advantageous 
points. This whole area would then fall to other schools, not under 
Christian influence (there is one such now in Shanghai) ; students 
who would otherwise seek a medical education in a Christian school 
would turn to non-Christian schools ; and the tendency would be 
to develop in this great area a medical profession uninfluenced by 



196 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Christian ideals. This would certainly be most disadvantageous 
both to the Christian community and to the Chinese generally. 
Such an argument might indeed be put forth in reference to every 
point at which a medical school now exists and for various other 
cities. But the exceptional scope of the influence of Shanghai 
and the practical impossibility of maintaining more than a very 
small number of Christian medical schools make these consider- 
ations, in our judgment, a decisive argument for the development 
of a strong Christian school here rather than at certain other 
points. 

330. The question of language is a serious one. While there 
are distinct advantages in giving an education in the vernacular, 
yet the differences in dialect in this part of China are so great that 
the various interests can be united only in the use of English. 
A school at Shanghai teaching in English would serve all. 

As we have already pointed out we need sooner or later 
to complete our system of medical education under Christian aus- 
pices. With a strong school in Shanghai the system would reach 
a point of development which we believe would make unnecessary 
the establishment of any new school for an indefinite period of 
time, 

331. The importance of a school at Shanghai has been recog- 
nized for a long time and various attempts have been made to 
establish such a school. In 1896 St. John's University opened a 
school which is still continuing. In 1914 the University of Penn- 
sylvania joined forces with St. John's and since then has been 
appointing members of the stafif. Hampered though it is by lack 
of sufficient support this school has done a creditable piece of 
work. About 1910 the Harvard Medical School of China was 
founded by the alumni of Harvard University, but it continued 
its work for only a short period. Its discontinuance was most 
unfortunate, for it gave promise of offering a solution for the 
problem in Shanghai. For a period of years the missions cooper- 
ated in conducting a medical school at Nanking. It was expected 
that this would become the medical school for East China, but 
when it was announced that the China Medical Board would prob- 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 197 

ably establish a medical school in Shanghai the medical school at 
Nanking was discontinued. 

332. Recently the representatives of the institutions and the 
missions working in East China have been considering a plan of 
cooperation whereby they would take over the present school of 
St. John's University and incorporate it in a union enterprise. 
These representatives have decided to launch this undertaking as 
soon as it shall receive the official sanction of the missions in 
China and of the Boards at home, and as soon as the necessary 
funds can be secured. 

333. The Commission has been consulted frequently in this 
matter. As we have already indicated, we believe that in the near 
future there should be a medical school under Christian auspices 
in Shanghai, and we give our cordial approval to such an under- 
taking. When it is carried into effect the school should be coedu- 
cational and adequate facilities provided for the education of 
women. See Section 338. 

But we are constrained to add one word of caution. If 
the resources of men and money were less limited than they are, 
we should gladly commend the proposed medical school in Shanghai 
for immediate development, but we are compelled by force of cir- 
cumstances to recommend that it should not take precedence over 
certain other undertakings which we are elsewhere recommending 
for early development, but take its proper place in the order of 
priorities. See Section 715. We hope that the time may not be 
distant when the plans recently made may be carried into effect. 
Meantime we recommend that as soon as practicable a Union 
Medical School be organized as an integral part of the proposed 
Christian University for East China, with a view to its further 
development when conditions permit. We further recommend that 
the Boards supporting this school be as far as possible other than 
those which are contributing to the support of the school at 
Tsinan. 

The plans for the school should include adequate provi- 
sion for women's education of the character indicated in Section 
338. That the plans for the development of the education of women 



198 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

may not be delayed, separate provision for it should if necessary 
be made, pending the time when with larger developments of the 
ultimate plan a fuller measure of coordination may be effected. 



IX. Women's Medical Education 

334. The question of the medical education of women in 
China has long been a mooted one. There are at present three 
schools giving education to women alone, two of them under 
Christian auspices : the North China Union Medical College for 
Women, established at Peking in 1908, and the Hackett Medical 
College for Women, established in Canton in 1909. These schools 
represent the heroic efforts of small groups of women who, in the 
face of the greatest discouragements, have held on, hoping that they 
might lay the foundation for the medical training of women of the 
Orient. They have had to work in small and poorly equipped 
schools and hospitals and have been greatly handicapped by their 
inability to secure a sufficient number of competent women doctors 
to come to China as teachers. 

The China Medical Commission made the following com- 
ments after their study of the subject : "The schools are hampered 
from the start by an inability to get a sufficient number of girls 
with a proper preliminary education. Until the whole standard of 
education of girls is raised, and until a higher education for 
women has been developed, the medical schools will be forced to 
keep their admission requirements low and to struggle with a poorly 
prepared group of students. It would hardly seem wise to take 
active steps to foster medical education for women until the under- 
lying educational structure has been considerably strengthened. 
For the present such women as are peculiarly fitted for the pro- 
fession might better be sent abroad for a thorough training." 

335. Considerable change has taken place in the eight years 
since this report was prepared, yet the fundamental conditions 
remain much the same. There are more opportunities now than 
then for girls to secure a higher education and the number of such 
girls is increasing steadily. Moreover, a fair percentage of the 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 199 

girls in college have expressed a desire to take a medical education. 
But the number of women with a sufficient degree of education 
who are qualified to take a medical training is still very small. 
The whole group of women students is not large and, according to 
present indications, will not be large enough for many years to 
come. There are only ninety-five women students in all the 
medical schools of China to-day. In view of these three consid- 
erations, it is a question whether the Women's Mission Boards, 
from whose treasuries the funds to maintain such institutions must 
largely come, are justified in attempting to support even one sep- 
arate medical school for women. 

Moreover, the experience of the present schools has 
shown that it is very difficult to secure a sufficient number of com- 
petent women physicians in America and England to staff separate 
schools. All the missions report great difficulty in obtaining a suffi- 
cient number of women physicians. 

336. It must also be taken into account that Peking, Tsinan, 
and Changsha have all opened their doors to women on equal 
terms. The trend toward coeducation is developing rapidly in 
China, and the former opposition to the education of the two sexes 
together in professional schools will apparently disappear in the 
not distant future. When it is recalled that with all our advance 
in the education of women there is but one medical school for 
women in England and but one in America, it seems clear 
that we should proceed with caution in creating such schools in 
China. 

337. The Commission has been highly gratified to learn that 
since its conference with the representatives of the faculty of the 
North China Union Medical College for Women a plan has been 
worked out for the amalgamation of that school with the medical 
department of the Shantung Christian University. If the Boards 
give their consent, and there should be no delay in doing so, the 
school at Tsinan will become coeducational, a proportionate number 
of women will be added to the teaching staff, a new hospital for 
women and hostels for women students will be erected. We con- 
gratulate the women of the North China College upon this emi- 



200 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

nently wise solution of their problem, and we urge upon the Boards 
in America and England their cordial and hearty assent and coope- 
ration in carrying these plans through to completion. 

338. In view of these considerations, it is the judgment of the 
Commission that the important interests of women's medical educa- 
tion can best be conserved, not by the maintenance of separate 
medical schools for women, but by concentration on securing for 
Women proper opportunities and care at the coeducational schools. 
Not only would the women students at once receive a better educa- 
tion than can for some time be provided in a separate school, but the 
funds already in hand or obtainable would make possible the addi- 
tion of women professors to the faculties of the existing schools, 
the erection of residences for women students, special hospitals for 
women, affording suitable clinical facilities for women students, 
and a travelling fund for students coming from a distance. Tsinan 
would offer facilities for those who prefer instruction in Mandarin, 
Peking and Shanghai for those who prefer English. 

339. Should this plan for adequate reason be deemed imprac- 
ticable, the Women's Mission Boards should in our judgment 
unite their forces, transfer the Hackett Medical School from 
Canton and establish one first-class school for women in the 
city' of Shanghai. Certainly the Boards could not justify the 
expenditure of the funds necessary to build more than one 
school. It would be a clear diversion of mission funds from 
their best use. If organized, this school in Shanghai should 
be established in close affiliation with the medical school for men, 
which should materialize in the near future (Sections 329-333), 
in order that there may be a saving of large sums of money in the 
erection of laboratories and hospitals and in the equipment of the 
same,, as well as in the conservation of the life force of the men 
and women who must make the necessary sacrifices to make these 
institutions possible. No waste of hfe or money is justified in 
this critical hour. 

If there is any delay in carrying out the plans for a strong 
coeducational school in Shanghai (see Section 333), we recom- 
mend that the Women's Boards proceed with the establishment of a 



MEDICAL EDUCATION 201 

school for women in Shanghai, so organized as to become a part 
of the coeducational institution to be developed at that point. 

X. Schools of Dentistry 

340. The missions have not embarked in the field of dental 
education to any large extent. They have been too busy with other 
tasks. There are a limited number of dentists on the staffs of some 
of the medical schools, but there is only one dental school operated 
by the missions, so far as we have been able to discover. This is 
the faculty of dentistry of the West China Union University. 
It was not strange that the missions at work in that remote province 
should have desired dentists located among them. The Canadian 
mission responded to the demand and sent out two dentists. Na- 
turally, these men desired to build up a dental profession in China. 
They began instruction and laid the foundation for a dental de- 
partment. This led to the demand for more dentists until there are 
now four on the stafif. 

341. We do not criticize the mission for sending an adequate 
number of dentists to Szechwan to care for the large mission body, 
but we do seriously question the advisability of attempting to build 
up a complete dental school when the medical school is so inade- 
quately staiTed. It is not yet at all competent to meet the situation. 
We realize that dentistry and medicine have a close relation, but 
it would have been wiser in our judgment to build up the medical 
faculty before attempting to found a dental school. Now that the 
work is well started and men are on the field, having acquired the 
language, we cannot advise that the department be closed, but we 
recommend that no more dentists be added to the faculty until the 
medical school be thoroughly equipped and we urge other missions 
not to attempt the foundation of similar departments until we have 
adequately estabHshed our medical schools. 

XI. Summary of Recommendations 

(i) Recognizing the impossibility of furnishing the number 
of physicians needed in China, and the necessity of meeting the 



202 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

new demands for the expression of the philanthropic spirit of 
Christianity, the Christian forces should limit themselves to the 
maintenance of a very few medical schools which shall set up a 
high standard of medical education and practice and contribute 
to the profession men who will by their character and influence 
maintain its ethical ideals. 

(2) All medical schools should be coeducational, with the 
possible exception of one school for women, 

(3) Larger attention should be given to preventive medicine 
and the training of health officers, and the stronger hospitals 
should develop educational features, including the training of 
nurses and public health work. 

(4) Schools of Pharmacy and Dentistry should be left to 
other agencies to develop. 



: 



CHAPTER VII 

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION : 

ITS PLACE IN THE SYSTEM OF CHRISTIAN 

EDUCATION IN CHINA 

I. Agricultural Work Under Way 

342. Agricultural education began in China at least as early 
as 1907. At present Canton Christian College maintains a college 
of agriculture, and the University of Nanking a college of agri- 
culture and forestry ; Peking University has organized an agricul- 
tural and animal husbandry experiment station and offers college- 
grade instruction in the same field ; Yale-in-China has several 
courses in forestry. 

343. There are three missions giving agricultural work in 
middle schools; thirteen supporting work for the improvement of 
crops and animals ; thirty-six giving agricultural lectures, short 
courses, practice work for students; fifty-two maintaining school 
gardens, and eleven growing seeds, nursery stock or vegetables 
for sale. The American Presbyterian Mission North has eleven 
stations doing some type of - agricultural work ; the Methodist 
Episcopal six; the Canadian Methodist five. There are in mission 
service in China at least fifteen foreign agricultural specialists 
who hold degrees from agricultural colleges; thirteen returned 
students educated in agriculture; and seven who are graduates of 
institutions in China — a total of thirty-five men already at work 
in the agricultural field under the auspices of Christian institu- 
tions.^ 

^ These facts are taken from the manuscript of an article by Professor J. Lossing 
Buck, of the University of Nanking, prepared for the survey volume of the China 
Continuation Committee. Probably there are other men and enterprises not listed 

203 



204 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

II. Evidences of an Increasing Interest 

344. There is abundant evidence of a rapidly growing interest 
in agricultural missions in China, many items of which are sum- 
marized in the China Mission Year Book for 1919. Perhaps the 
most striking testimony is a recent resolution, which has been ap- 
proved by nine of the ten Christian Educational Associations in 
China, as follows : 

"That the Executive Committee of the China Christian 
Educational Association be empowered to appoint a committee on 
agricultural education, whose duty it shall be to prepare an 'All- 
China' program looking toward the introduction of agriculture into 
our mission schools, through the development of provincial normal 
training centers for the suitable preparation of teachers." 

The committee is at work on a program of increasing 
the activities in all types and grades of agricultural work. The 
Committee on Economic and Industrial Problems, of the National 
Christian Conference of 1922, is including agriculture as an im- 
portant part of its report. 



III. Shall the Missions Increase Agricultural Work? 

345. Some phases of educational endeavor under Christian 
management, such as theological education, are universally re- 
garded as germane to the Christian enterprise in China, but the 
extension of work in agriculture is not yet the accepted policy 
of all the missions, and it is necessary for the Commission to advise 
on this point. 

The more obvious objections to enlarging the agricul- 
tural educational work are that the development of a great industry 
like agriculture is a public function ; that China has already begun 
a system of agricultural education; that in any event the task is 
so huge as to be quite beyond the compass of Christian agencies; 
that the cost of this type of education is prohibitive; that well- 
trained men are not available for such work in China ; and finally. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 205 

that it is doubtful whether technical education of any kind is a 
function of Christian education in China. 

346. Some of these objections lie against nearly all aspects 
of Christian education. The government has already inaugurated 
nearly all branches of education, and every private educational 
agency serves China as a supplement to the work of the gov- 
ernment. The size of the problem has really nothing to do with 
our question ; for the best argument for Christian education of any 
sort consists in the uniqueness of quality, emphasis and outlook. 

While the costs of agricultural education are high, there 
is ground for believing that its development will make an unusually 
strong appeal to persons and special groups not yet enlisted to aid 
education in China. The able men already in the field, and the 
newly^ aroused interest in agricultural missions at home, seem to 
promise adequate personnel. Whether agriculture is as valid as 
teacher-training for example, as a field of education, depends 
upon the point of view as to the task of Christian education in 
China. All education may be wholly Christian in purpose, and 
one of the duties of Christian institutions is to demonstrate that 
principle. Moreover it must be understood that agricultural edu- 
cation, defined in a broad way, is far more than technical in con- 
tent and application ; it is essentially humanitarian, and may be 
fully Christian. 

IV. Agricultural Education and the Chinese Church 

347. But positive argument for including agriculture in the 
plans for Christian education in China is found in the vital con- 
nection between the growth and power of the Christian church, 
and the function and possibilities of agricultural education. It is 
estimated that six per cent of the people of China live in cities 
of 50,000 population and over, and a similar proportion in towns 
of from 10,000 to 50,000 population. Probably three-quarters of 
China's 400,000,000 people live in villages and hamlets containing 
from 2,500 people down to three or four families. It is believed 



2o6 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

that 80 per cent of the Chinese have direct economic contact with 
the soil and may be classed as farmers. It has also been estimated 
that there are not less than one hundred thousand villages, each of 
which with its group of perhaps ten hamlets tributary to it, offers 
a center for a possible Christian church. It is evident that the 
ambition to compass the Christian occupation of China depends 
for its realization upon the ability of the church to reach these 
rural masses, living in perhaps one hundred thousand villages and 
one million neighborhoods or hamlets. Chinese civilization is 
deeply rooted in these small but distinct and wholly democratic 
social groupings. The Chinese church even now is recruiting 
its workers from country-bred folk. The church cannot possess 
China unless she secures the allegiance of rural China. 

348. The Chinese church must be self-sustaining financially, 
but the masses of village people are fearfully poor, constantly on 
the margin of life, with practically no surplus. The missions have 
a concern nothing less than vital in the permanent economic im- 
provement of Chinese farming and farmers. 

It would seem therefore as if the Christian enterprise 
in China, purely as a matter of church statesmanship, or of in- 
terest in church development, would be compelled to encourage 
a widespread effort to educate the farm people. 

V. The Farm Villages and the Kingdom 

349. There is another justification for pressing agricultural 
education. Many who are wholly loyal to the idea of securing 
a strong Christian church in China, believe profoundly that the 
church is not an end in itself, but is to be the servant of a 
better China. An article in a recent number of The Chinese 
Recorder, by Tai Ping Heng, puts this point of view forcefully : 

"It is widely accepted that the task of the Christian 
church is two-fold, the Christianization of China and Sinization 
of Christianity. Neither of them can be accomplished if the vil- 
lages are left out of consideration. Of real social control the 
villages are the source." 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 207 

350. AH experience goes to emphasize the fundamental need 
of Christianizing local groups. The greater Christian community 
is made up of a multitude of small Christian groups. In China 
the farm villages are true social units, the very tissue of Chinese 
civilization. If this civilization is to be dominated by and per- 
meated with the principles of Christianity, these rural groups, 
these farm villages, are to be made miniature kingdoms of God. 
But the specifications of the kingdom are that it must be eco- 
nomically sound and effective; intelligent in its manhood and 
citizenship ; socially clean, wholesome and solid ; suffused with 
the religious spirit; motivated by Christian ideals. Now edu- 
cation is fundamental in this process of kingdom building, an 
education that is as inclusive in scope as all the needs of the people, 
as broad as the rural problem. A system of agricultural education 
therefore, ministering to the technical, the economic, and the 
social needs of the farm villages and hamlets of China is essen- 
tial to the development of a truly Christian rural civilization 
within her borders. 



VI. The Task of Agricultural Education 

351. The main purposes of a system of education that meets 
the needs of a farming people are at least these : 

a. To give a minimum schooling to the children of the 
countryside reasonably commensurate in both amount and quality 
with that given to the children of the cities, and adapted to the 
special needs of the rural groups. 

b. To train leaders of all ranks, competent and willing 
to help in solving the problems of the farm folk. 

c. To gain by research and experiment that knowledge 
of facts and principles that is necessary to an intelligent ap- 
proach to those problems. 

d. To educate adult farmers in modern farm practices, 
cooperative association, betterment of living conditions, and use- 
ful citizenship. 



2o8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

VII. What is the Rural Problem in China? 

352. It is impossible to visualize the task, or to plan wisely 
for a system of agricultural education, without at least a cursory 
review of the problems involved in a reconstructed agriculture 
and country life in China. Even a mere index or list of problems, 
which is all that can be given in this report, will serve to suggest 
the breadth of plan, the generosity of intellectual interest, and the 
social sympathy required to meet the need. 

The farmers of China are wonderfully skilled in many 
ways, and secure amazing results. The persistence of Chinese 
civilization undiminished for forty centuries has been due in part 
to the success of her farmers in growing food and in maintaining 
soil fertility over great areas. But serious limitations characterize 
China's farming and many difficulties arise with which the farmers 
are unable to cope. For example, the farmers are not improving 
the types of cultivated plants by seed selection. The potential 
gains of this one reform are beyond calculation. The following 
list suggests the presence of many similar problems : 

a. Agricultural land. — Land tenure, small and scattered 
holdings and widespread tenantry; evils of landlordism; great 
acreage of lands unused for production of food or textiles. 

b. Labor efficiency. — Surplus of labor, supremacy of hand 
labor ; ineffective labor ; small labor income ; low standards of 
living ; restricted diet ; poor sanitation ; dominance of supersti- 
tions as affecting farm practice; serious prevalence of theft and 
of menacing secret societies ; costly customs. 

c. Possible improvements in production. — In some areas 
the maintenance of soil fertility is a serious matter ; bettering 
farm practice ; improving plants and animals ; developing animal 
husbandry. 

d. Economic conditions. — -Poor transportation facilities; 
absence of cooperation in buying, selling, credit, and the like, with 
consequent injustice to producers; high rates of interest; absence 
of insurance; likin and other forms of unjust taxation. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 209 

e. Social life. — Family life; schools; health; recreation; 
local government ; isolation. 

f . Control of physical conditions. — Flood prevention ; 
reforestation ; irrigation and drainage ; povi^er development, 

g. Agriculture and national life. — Famine prevention; re- 
lation of population to food supply ; the factory system and the 
food supply ; village and home industries ; transportation and the 
food supply; land development and colonization; agriculture in 
relation to industry, commerce, and banking; Chinese agriculture 
and world agriculture and industry; the farmers and political 
development; legislation and agriculture; the organization of agri- 
culture ; need for statesmanship and leadership in rural afifairs. 



VIII. A Programme of Education in Agriculture under the 
Auspices of Christian Institutions 

353. The village school. — The village school is the most im- 
portant single item in an adequate educational system for the rural 
people of China. And while the consideration of the work of this 
school belongs to another section of this report (see Chapter on 
Elementary Education) the basic character of the problem in- 
volved demands emphasis because of its bearing upon agricultural 
development. For it seems imperative that the Christian forces 
shall maintain a sufficient number of village schools to demon- 
strate what is the best sort of education for the farm children, to 
train intelligent leadership in the village life, to send on to the 
middle schools and colleges those children that can profit by more 
advanced schooHng, and to serve in general as allies to the chu:ch 
in the development of the villages under Christian ideals. The 
Christian village school should help China to answer such ques- 
tions as these : can the village school be made as good a school 
as the city school of the same grade? can it become a true edu- 
cational and social center for the community? can its teacher 
be a real leader and guide of the people? can we confidently look 
forward to an effective and widespread system of education for 



210 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

the rural population of China, comprising three-fourths of its 
millions? 

354. Agricultural education specifically. — The dictum that 
neither the missions nor the Chinese Christian church can edu- 
cate China applies with special force in the field of agricultural 
education. But for reasons already indicated, we recommend that 
an effort be made to develop as rapidly as possible a modest but 
model system of agricultural education under Christian auspices ; 
that the generally accepted tasks of agricultural institutions, teach- 
ing, investigation, and extension, be included in the plans ; and 
that every possible effort be made to cooperate with publicly sup- 
ported agencies of agricultural education and development. 

355. Standard development for each area. — In this system 
we would consider six geographical areas : North China, East 
China, South China, West China, Central China, and Fukien, and 
would recommend the following standard development for each 
area. In each region we would recommend a group of institu- 
tions, closely knit into a cooperating system, and all the areas 
joined into an all-China system. The institution in each area 
would be: 

a. A college of agriculture, which would carry on inves- 
tigations, and be the center for extension service in the area. Such 
an institution can probably be maintained at present only in South 
China, East China, and North China. 

b. A middle school of agriculture, preferably not con- 
nected with the college and probably developed out of an existing 
middle school, covering the new senior middle school grades. 

c. One good agricultural vocational school in each pro- 
vince, with a course of one year at the outset. This school should 
be of as high grade as will reach youth who will become working 
farmers. An effort should be made to have it cover the first year 
or two of the new junior middle school grades. 

d. Each mission should, as an experiment or demonstra- 
tion, and in at least one elementary school in a distinctively farm- 
ing village, aim to provide definite vocational agricultural work, 
to begin at whatever grade or age seems necessary in order to 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 2ii 

keep the boys in school for at least one. year of training for life- 
work. 

' 356. The Agricultural College. — It is assumed that the agri- 
cultural work in the Canton Christian College and in the University 
of Nanking will be continued and enlarged. Peking University 
is making only a beginning in agriculture, but is justified in this 
step because it can serve a vast territory lying at a great distance 
from Nanking, an area wholly distinct in its physical features and 
agricultural character from those of any other part of China. If, 
however, the larger part of the financial support for this work in 
Peking, including salaries of foreign stafif, could be contributed by 
Chinese, very great advantages, too obvious to detail, would ensue. 
The province of Szechwan is in itself an empire, the bulk of its 
population farmers, and it would seem inevitable that this dom- 
inant interest of the people should be recognized ; but it might 
be wise to build a first class middle school of agriculture before 
attempting work of college grade. Central China presents a prob- 
lem to be reserved for discussion in a subsequent paragraph. One 
school of forestry will suffice for all China. 

357. The Agricultural College should attempt to train special- 
ists or experts. The particular occupations for which men will be 
prepared must depend somewhat upon real demand, the actual op- 
portunities for work; and will eventually include all the various 
aspects of the rural problem. Men are now needed as teachers, 
investigators, extension workers, and administrators. The college 
can cooperate to some extent with normal schools and departments, 
and theological schools and departments respectively, in training 
teachers and preachers who will seek service where knowledge of 
the farm problem is an important part of their equipment. The 
Agricultural College under Christian auspices should send forth 
real leaders competent to solve rural problems thoroughly Christian 
in spirit and outlook. It should guard the curriculum against nar- 
rowness, both by requiring courses in citizenship and literature, 
and by emphasizing the wide ranges of natural science, philosophy, 
history, and social science, that underlie and permeate the subject 
of agriculture and the problems connected with it. 



212 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

358. Investigation. — Little progress can be made in agricul- 
tural teaching in China, unless the results of investigation and 
experiment are available. It is quite out of the question for the 
Christian agricultural colleges to cover in their research the whole 
rural problem, but it is essential that they carry on work in a few 
fundamental lines, and cooperate with government agencies in a 
common endeavor to discover the science that must underlie prac- 
tice. Only so can improvement in agricultural affairs result. 

It must be understood that while the social or human 
welfare results aje the great aim of Christian schools, technical 
and economic gains must be the foundation for permanent social 
progress. Hence research in both the scientific and social realms 
is necessary. 

359. The extension service. — No agricultural college does its 
work properly that fails to carry a suggestive and authoritative 
message to the farmer. The Christian agricultural colleges can 
hardly hope to reach the great masses of Chinese farmers, but 
they have no better service to render than to demonstrate success- 
fully how the farmer, with his tiny farm, his utter lack of educa- 
tion, his narrow horizons, his reliance upon superstitutions, can 
be inspired to faith in applied science and to hope for a fuller life, 
economically and socially. Lectures, demonstrations, testing sta- 
tions or farms, travelling exhibits, motion pictures, charts, bulle- 
tins, placards, must all be used in the effort to stir the farmers to 
better things. 

Market days, idle periods, especially in the winter months, 
will of course be taken advantage of in extension work. When- 
ever possible agricultural students should be used as helpers in this 
work, in order both to enlarge the working force and to give 
students a love for and practice in social service of this sort. 
All that is said about reaching the farmers applies with equal 
force to the women and to the boys and girls of the country. 

360. The Middle School of Agriculture. — For some time to 
come it is probable that few graduates of middle schools will find 
employment on farms, but already there is a call for their services 
as assistants to experts, especially in extension teaching. More- 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 213 

over there is little hope for the Christian occupation of rural China 
unless both preachers and teachers especially trained for the task 
can be sent to serve the farm villages. One of the largest con- 
tributions of the Christian agricultural middle school, for the im- 
mediate future, is through its function either as a specialized type 
of normal and theological school, or as an auxiliary to these two 
training institutions, to prepare rural teachers and preachers. 

It is impossible for the Commission to go into detail con- 
cerning the precise character of the work to be offered in this 
agricultural middle school. But the wonderful history and remark- 
able achievements of Hampton Institute, as well as the religious 
quality of its leadership and purpose, at once suggest its value as 
a model for China, just as it has served as an inspiring guide to 
industrial education in all parts of the United States and even in 
Europe. The emphasis upon the practical arts, character develop- 
ment through work, religious appeal as guide both to self-develop- 
ment and to social service, sympathy with the common people, 
would all commend themselves to the Chinese. Hampton stresses 
both teacher-training and preacher-training for those going to 
rural fields. It includes trades as well as agriculture. It would 
seem as if Central China is probably the best area for the first ex- 
tensive enterprise of precisely this type, presumably near the 
Wu Han cities. Here it might well be a substitute for a college 
of agriculture. If the Shantung institutions are to stress the 
preparation of teachers and preachers for country work, there 
again the agricultural middle school idea might be utilized. So also 
in Szechwan, as a beginning of this type of work, an institution 
of essentially middle school grade is suggested, though it might 
at first cover only the junior middle school period. The same 
probably holds for Fukien. 

These recommendations relative to middle schools do 
not at all contravene the plan for provincial agricultural training 
centers, projected not long ago by some educational leaders in 
China, if funds for the larger project can be obtained. It is sug- 
gested moreover that the People's High School of Denmark offers 
inspiring suggestions to the Christian forces in rural China. 



214 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

361. Schools for prospective farmers. — The schools recom- 
mended in Section 355 c, d, are of two grades, the first to be as 
advanced as possible and still turn out working farmers; the sec- 
ond, to seek to reach the mass of boys who leave school prema- 
turely, with something that will help them vocationally. The first 
grade of school will probably cover the former higher primary 
years. The second grade of work will probably take the form of 
elementary courses in agriculture. The aim of these courses is to 
educate boys to become successful farmers and Christian leaders 
in the farm villages. Ideally, the specialized vocational work 
would follow the first four years of the elementary school. But 
to be effective, vocational work of this grade must reach the boys 
at a point early enough to keep them in school. If the cost seems 
to make it impossible to maintain full time vocafit)nal courses 
of elementary grade, several of these schools, cooperating with each 
other and with the colleges, could be served with a travelling agri- 
cultural teacher who would spend a day each in the schools of 
several villages. The types of farming prevailing in the neighbor- 
hood will govern the technical side of the courses in both grades 
of this farmers' school. There should be much farm practice, free 
use of projects, and the work should, in every way, be adapted 
to practical ends and needs. But so far as feasible the pupils 
should be led into the economic, social, and public problems which 
the farmers of China must face. 

362. Schools of both grades should serve as community cen- 
ters for the survey of conditions and dissemination of information. 
They must become vital factors in village reconstruction, real 
leaders toward a new day for the farmers of the regions they 
serve. They could also offer short courses of a type that would 
attract the youth out of school and the younger adults. Home 
and village industries are so closely linked with farming in China, 
that the need for including industrial with agricultural work is 
apparent. Careful study should be given to the value and possi- 
bilities of different types of these industries, how they can be 
improved, and how they can be effectively taught to those to whom 
they can be of help. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 215 

363. Education of girls and ivomen. — It is assumed that in 
those regions where women participate in farming, all grades of 
work offered for boys and men in agriculture will be ofifered to 
girls and women as rapidly as needed. It is of course desirable 
that the education of the girls of the farm villages shall be stimu- 
lated in every possible way. In addition to facilities for general 
education, the system of rural education should fully recognize 
home-making and home industries. 

364. Community schools. — It is desirable to try to get the 
whole community together to consider their common problems. 
Sometimes this can be done on market days. But, recalling that 
the original Sunday-school was a school held on Sunday but de- 
signed to teach people to read, an experienced missionary educator 
in China has made a suggestion that, while advanced with some 
hesitation, seems worthy of full discussion : "Is it not possible to 
use Sunday in the farm village for community schools and lay 
before the villagers, old and young, the program for a better com- 
munity?" This program would include practical helps for better 
farming, suggestions for health and comfort, methods of village 
cooperation for common ends, and the teaching of Jesus as it 
applies to personal character and social relationship. In other 
words, the specifications of the kingdom could be set before the 
villagers by teacher and by preacher, who could thus indicate the 
practical character of religion, and at the same time emphasize 
the ideal elements in social progress and human relationships. 
Students in the schools could help better on Sunday than on any 
other day. It requires little imagination to see the possibilities 
of the plan, provided the schools have personnel to spare for a 
very arduous and delicate service. The suggestion should be 
developed into a plan and given a fair trial. 

365. Agricultural materials in general subjects. — It is be- 
lieved that the subject of agriculture, properly defined, organized, 
and taught, can contribute a most significant element to the teach- 
ing in all grades of education in China, from elementary to the 
college. Especially in village schools it is important as a phase 
of education from environment. For example, the largest part of 



2i6 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

geography and nature study should be the study of agriculture 
even in urban schools. These studies would, if properly taught, 
consist for the most part of information about the life of the people, 
their environment and occupations, and therefore rural life and 
environment and occupations should constitute the largest part 
of these studies. It has been proved beyond doubt that agricul- 
tural material may be correlated with the conventional subjects in 
a way to make these subjects far more effective than they had 
ever been before. Agricultural material offers rare opportunity 
for training in observation, in accuracy of statement, in obed- 
ience to natural law, in alertness to and appreciation of environ- 
ment; and the manual work connected with it would be of in- 
estimable value in keeping the student from false views of the 
character and purpose of education. 

366. Exchange of teachers and others. — It is highly desir- 
able that plans be worked out for the exchange of agricultural 
lecturers between China and other countries, for travelling fellow- 
ships for students, and even for the international visitation of 
farmers. The enlistment and training of agricultural missionaries 
should be given especial attention by the Mission Boards. 

367. A Council of Agricultural Education. — The various 
agricultural colleges in China should cooperate closely in all mat- 
ters ; in research especially. There should be similar cooperation 
between each college and the middle schools and elementary schools 
in its area. As a means of securing constant and full cooperation 
it would be well to have a permanent agricultural committee or 
council of the China Christian Education Association, with repre- 
sentation from all types and grades of work, which should serve 
as a clearing-house for discussing common problems and thus 
securing a system of agricultural education under Christian aus- 
pices. It should make the budget for the entire system of agri- 
cultural work in China. A journal of agricultural education would 
be of great value and could be published by the Council. The 
Council could arrange for the translation of foreign books, and 
for the compilation of Chinese literature on the subject of agri- 
culture. It could serve to correlate the research work in the eco- 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 217 

noniic and social fields, as between the urban and the rural aspects. 
368, Cooperation witli the government. — It is the clear duty 
of the government to support agricultural education. For years 
to come, however, the Christian system of agricultural education 
need not duplicate the government work, so huge is the task, pro- 
vided reasonable care be taken to avoid overlapping. It is some- 
what doubtful if cooperation in teaching is feasible, but in research 
and extension service the problem of coordinating work should be 
an easy one to solve: in research, by cooperative projects; in 
extension, by division of geographical areas of service. Every 
efifort should be made by the Christian agricultural agencies to 
secure genuine cooperation with government institutions and asso- 
ciations. 



IX. The Main Objectives of the Agricultural Enterprise 

369. Every teacher and administrator, every institution of 
every grade, every program and project connected with this sys- 
tem of agricultural education under Christian auspices, should be 
related to the three following inclusive objectives of the whole 
enterprise. 

a. The complete development of the Chinese farm vil- 
lage. There should be inaugurated a "best village" movement, with 
a practical working program for better farm practice, better co- 
operation in farm business, and better communities in which to 
live. This movement should be essentially Chinese and so far 
as possible essentially Christian. 

b. A comprehensive all-China program for the improve- 
ment of Chinese agriculture and country life, sensitive to world 
relationships, generous in its scope and p:actical in its elifort. 
The cooperation of business men and indeed a large measure of 
leadership on their part should be secured. The program should 
be as broad as the rural problem. 

c. The training of a Christian leadership for these two 
main ends, village reconstruction and an aggressive national agri- 
cultural movement, so that in village work as well as in larger 



2i8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

affairs there may soon be found a host of trained farmers, teachers, 
preachers, scientific speciaHsts, administrators, burning with a pas- 
sion for redeeming rural China in body, mind, and soul, and 
unitedly determined to do all in their power to produce in China a 
Christian rural civilization. 



X. Summary of Recommendations 

(i) That agricultural education be given an important place 
in the system of Christian education in China. 

(2) That the village school be recognized as needing es- 
pecial attention, because of its vital relationship to the major part 
of Chinese population, and the peculiar difficulties that surround 
its work. 

(3) That agricultural work of college grade be provided in 
three institutions; of middle school grade (senior) in five; of 
middle school grade (junior )in each province; of elementary 
grade, one in each mission. 

(4) That both research and extension teaching be pressed 
as rapidly as funds will permit. 

(5) That a Council of Agricultural Education be formed. 

(6) That cooperation with the government be undertaken 
wherever possible. 

(7) That a "best village" movement be developed. 



CHAPTER VIII 

EDUCATION IN THE SOCIAL APPLICATION OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

I. Introduction 

370. The Conference on Christian Ethics, Economics and 
Citizenship now at work in Great Britain is one of many signs 
that the churches of the West are beginning to make a sys- 
tematic effort to think out the appHcations of Christianity to the 
economic, social, and poHtical aspects of national life, and also 
to international relations. It is freely acknowledged that neglect 
of this task during the critical period which followed the indus- 
trial revolution has been one of the deeper causes underlying the 
Great War and all the industrial strife, social bitterness, and class 
hatreds which in the aggregate constitute no less a tragedy. If 
there is one lesson more than another which the young Christian 
church of China may learn from western experience it is that it 
should from the outset bring all its forces to bear upon the great 
economic and social problems which are going to confront China. 
The very presentation of Christianity must be conditioned by 
the fact that China is entering on the first stages of a great indus- 
trial transformation. The answer to the question whether indus- 
trialism is going to prove a blessing or a curse to China may turn 
largely on the activity of the Christian community. If the church 
rules these problems outside her province it is difficult to believe 
that the Chinese, essentially pragmatic in their judgment of ideas 
and institutions, will as a people be attracted by the Christian 
message. On the other hand, all, whether Chinese or foreigners, 
who value the things of the spirit and who foresee the terrible 

2ig 



220 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

menace to humanity involved in a purely materialistic development 
of China's vast resources, are waiting for a definite lead. To 
make Christianity the master- force of Chinese national life the 
church must prepare herself to give that lead without delay. 

371. But these economic, social, and political problems are as 
difficult and complex as they are grave and pressing. The condi- 
tions at present existing represent partly the cumulative results of 
the working of certain deeply-rooted Chinese social ideas and cus- 
toms over a long period, partly the incipient effects of the recent 
impact on China of western commerce and industry. Any un- 
derstanding of these problems with a view to their solution must 
involve the most careful study of the interplay of different factors. 
The Christian community of China can hope to approach its task 
only through the medium of education, and there is perhaps no 
part of the Christian enterprise which more emphatically de- 
mands an adequate educational machinery to make it possible of 
accomplishment. 

372. The essential conditions of success in the task would 
seem to be : 

a. The systematic development of a Christian public opin- 
ion, leading to the formulation and wide diffusion of a Christian 
ethic on vital economic, social, and political issues. 

b. The careful organization of economic and sociologi- 
cal research that will provide the data necessary for this Christian 
ethic to find expression in a concrete and constructive policy of 
economic and social reform (e.g., in factory organization, employ- 
ment of women, child labor). 

c. The training of Christian leaders for those professions 
or services, both public and private, which exert the greatest influ- 
ence on public opinion or most materially affect the evolution of 
the nation's social, industrial, and political life. Among these 
professions we include the following: teaching in all grades of 
schools, in the universities, and in all forms of extension work, 
social and welfare work of all kinds, journalism, the law, business 
administration, the consular service, politics. 

The question must, therefore, be asked, to what extent 



EDUCATION IN THE SOCIAL APPLICATION 221 

is the Christian system of education contributing to these three 
essential functions of the Christian church, and what changes and 
development are needed to make this contribution more effective ? 



II. The Elements of the Problem 

373. Revieiv of present situation. — That there is an increas- 
ing tendency among all groups of Christian workers to relate Chris- 
tian teaching more definitely and explicitly to the conditions of mod- 
ern Chinese life, is hardly open to question. An outstanding exam- 
ple is the rapid growth and increasing influence of the many social 
activities of the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young 
Women's Christian Association. But the tendency is almost 
equally marked among the missionaries and their Chinese col- 
leagues, whether their work is primarily evangelistic or educa- 
tional. City evangelists are establishing centres at strategic points 
for the presentation of Christianity as a social as well as a per- 
sonal gospel, with a message for all who are beginning to feel an 
interest in public events ; and some rural evangelists are being 
equipped with sufficient agricultural knowledge to enable them to 
understand the economic problems of the village. 

The majority of educational missionaries are showing 
a keen desire to use the school as a means of producing good citi- 
zens as well as good Christians, and are teaching that the first 
is really involved in the second. The appeal for social service is 
being strongly pressed through both secular and religious instruc- 
tion. It is evident too that the students, taken as a whole, are re- 
sponding to this stimulus, and that many of them feel keenly the 
responsibility which rests upon them for using their educational 
advantages to promote public welfare. This is shown especially 
by the innumerable instances of students devoting a considerable 
part of their leisure to conducting "people's schools," as day schools, 
night schools, or vacation schools. 

It should also be noted that in some cases important ex- 
periments are being made in training boys directly for citizenship 
in a political democracy, by carefully festering the same forms 



222 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

of self-government which it is hoped to introduce into the na- 
tional life. 

Other instances could be adduced of the thought and 
energy which are being put into the work of creating in the stu- 
dent class both the desire and the capacity to serve their country. 
But when the utmost recognition has been made of this devoted 
effort, it must frankly be said that the essential conditions of suc- 
cess for the achievement of the task are far from being satisfied. 
In particular there is as yet comparatively little systematic effort 
to build up a Christian public opinion on economic, social, and 
political issues, and there is hardly more than a beginning of defi- 
nite investigation of economic and social conditions. Some of the 
reasons for the present position may be analyzed as a prelude to 
definite suggestions for its improvement. 

374. The training of Christian public opinion on economic, 
social, and political questions. — It is clear that this must be mainly 
achieved through (i) the schools, especially the middle schools, 
and colleges, and (2) adult education. The latter is of great po- 
tential importance in relation to the subject under discussion, but 
it is at present only in the most rudimentary stage of development. 
The special section of the Report dealing with it should be read 
in connection with the succeeding paragraphs. See Part III, Chap- 
ter XI, Sections 409ff. 

In (he schools and colleges specific training for citizen- 
ship must be given, chiefly through the medium of the social sci- 
ences, illumined whether directly or indirectly by the principles 
of ethics and religion. They may be said to comprise in the middle 
schools, history, human geography and civics, and in the colleges 
these same subjects together with economics, political science, law, 
and sociology. There is probably no country in the world where 
these subjects deserve a more honorable and important place in 
the scheme of education than in China. But several circumstances 
combine to make their teaching both insufficient and ineffective, 
especially in the middle schools. 

a. The fact that these subjects have only recently become 
scientific in the West and that their treatment in the classical syS' 



EDUCATION IN THE SOCIAL APPLICATION 223 

tem of Chinese education is not adapted to the altered conditions 
of modern life. 

b. The relatively small amount of time allotted to the 
teaching of history and geography, owing to the heavy claims of 
English, Chinese, science, and mathematics on the time-table. 

c. The frequent use of English as the medium of instruc- 
tion for these subjects in the higher classes. However strong may 
be the arguments for teaching them in English under existing con- 
ditions, the fact remains that the great majority of boys and girls 
cannot fully appreciate subject-matter which calls for serious 
thought when it is conveyed in a language other than their own. 
Much of their energy is necessarily absorbed in the effort to under- 
stand the language, instead of being wholly devoted to the real 
significance and meaning of the ideas or information which the 
language is intended to convey. What are intended to be lessons 
in history tend to become lessons in English. 

d. The lamentable want of text-books and larger works 
in history and geography, whether written in English or Chinese, 
suitable to the needs of boys and girls who are going to be citizens 
of China under twentieth century conditions. 

e. Lack of training, on the part of the majority of 
teachers of these subjects, in the art of treating history and 
geography in such a way as to make them bear effectively on the 
interpretation of the life of modern China, its social and economic 
problems and its world relationships. In particular the conception 
of geography, which has so vitalized its study in many western 
countries, as the subject in which the student may view the whole 
problem of collective living in relation to given environmental con- 
ditions and through which he can foresee the probable lines of 
economic and social development in different types of regions, is 
very imperfectly appreciated. In the syllabus of at least one Chris- 
tian educational association, while history is treated as a general 
subject, geography is grouped with physics under the natural 
sciences, thus losing its essential significance as the meeting-point 
of, or link between, the sciences of nature and the humanities. 

375. Economic and sociological research. — In no field of the 



224 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Christian educational system has research as yet played a large 
part. But in comparison with the efforts made to promote and 
maintain it in either medicine and surgery or in applied science, 
the claim of economic and social investigation has been almost 
ignored. The Peking Union Medical College in the sphere of 
medicine, and the Agricultural Department of Nanking University 
in the sphere of applied science, have no counterpart in the sphere 
of sociology. There are welcome signs of individual activity in this 
direction in one or two university departments of economics or 
sociology. But in relation to the magnitude of the issues at stake, 
the field of sociological research in China is almost untouched. The 
reason of its neglect cannot be mainly the expense involved. In 
comparison with the equipment required for the building and en- 
dowment of a first-class medical school or of almost any branch 
of applied science, the cost of an effective and fruitful scheme of 
economic and social investigation is small. It demands a limited 
number of highly-trained men to direct it and a great deal of 
devoted labor and voluntary cooperative effort to prosecute it, but 
comparatively little technical apparatus. Probably all that is 
needed to bring it into existence is a full realization by those re- 
sponsible for the Christian system of education of how funda- 
mentally important it is to the cause of Christianity in China. 
If the recent history of western Europe and America teaches us 
anything, it is that the application of Christianity to the sphere 
of industrial and social healing is every whit as important as its 
application to the sphere of physical healing. But no remedial 
treatment can be suggested which is not based on as careful a 
diagnosis of social tendencies and diseases as that whic|i the doctor 
makes of the ills which aiTect the human organism. 

III. Proposals 

It is not suggested that all the proposals which follow can 
be immediately carried out. They are intended to indicate the 
lines along which the Christian educational forces can gradually 
be brought to bear on the problems outlined above. 



EDUCATION IN THE SOCIAL APPLICATION 22s 

376. More effective teaching of the social sciences. — 

a. This must depend largely upon the lead given to the 
middle schools by the colleges. An urgent task for the university 
departments of history, geography, economics, and sociology is 
cooperation in working out a synthetic treatment of the material 
involved in these closely related subjects, with the special object 
of elucidating the conditions of life and the problems of modern 
China.^ 

b. In particular it may be urged that the greatly in- 
creased fruitfulness of the teaching of geography in many west- 
ern countries has been mainly the result of the development of uni- 
versity departments emphasizing human as well as physical geogra- 
phy and keeping in as close touch with history and economics as 
with the natural sciences. 

c. All the departments named above must be sufficiently 
well-staffed to allow not only of good teaching but of the produc- 
tion of a literature in history, geography, and applied economics 
suitable to the needs of Far Eastern students. 

The establishment of a few (post-) graduate fellowships 
would go far to achieve this end. It is strongly recommended 
that a few picked (post-) graduate students be sent to universities 
in Europe or America having strong departments in these subjects, 
with the specific object of applying the methods of technique 
which they can there acquire to the task of sifting and interpreting 
Far Eastern material. They should be selected not only for their 
special aptitudes in these particular lines of study, but also for 
their potential capacity to influence the student class by their writ- 
ings and teaching. 

d. Within each higher educational area at least one insti- 
tution should pay special attention to the training of teachers of 
history and geography for middle schools. 

'As an outstanding example of tbe value of synthetic work of this kind wc may 
refer to Prof. J. Cviji(5, "La Peninsule Balkanique" (Paris, 1918), a combination of 
geographical, historical and economic research which results in a wonderfully vivid and 
definite picture of modern Balkan problems and the factors in their solution. 



226 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

e. A special course should be provided for students in 
the final year of the middle school dealing specifically with the 
problems of modern China, utilizing the ideas and the data obtained 
from the study of history and geography, and bringing to bear 
upon them the principles of ethics and religion. 

377. Organised research into social and economic conditions 
and problems of modern China, — The work contemplated under 
this head demands a different approach from that of the more 
academic studies discussed in preceding paragraphs. That it may 
bear directly upon the solution of the economic and social prob- 
lems now facing or certain to face China, this research must in- 
volve the closest cooperation of academic workers with those more 
directly in touch with the every-day life of the people. Otherwise 
such work tends to be either too theoretical and academic to be of 
much practical value, or too unscientific to form a basis for a 
coherent programme of social reform. Fortunately the Christian 
system of education is already in close touch with practical workers 
in the field, and it should not be difficult to forge the links in the 
chain. 

a. It is highly desirable to formulate a comprehensive 
programme of the problems to be investigated, through a national 
committee representative of all the main agencies capable of taking 
part in the work. This committee should map out the field as a 
whole, and in particular determine the major problems to the eluci- 
dation of which the study of minor and more specific problems 
should contribute. Probably one of the most important of these 
major problems is indicated by the question, What is going to be 
the interaction between agriculture, craftsmanship, and industry 
resulting from the economic development of Chinese resources on 
western lines? That the introduction of industrialism has pro- 
found and far-reaching efifects on the relationship between differ- 
ent economic and social groups, on class differentiation, and indeed 
on the whole structure of society is evidenced not alone by the 
economic history of Western Europe and America. An important 
piece of recent investigation has shown that the coming of indus- 
trialism to India is affecting the economic character of village 



EDUCATION IN THE SOCIAL APPLICATION 227 

life in purely rural districts. It is therefore suggested that a 
special effort be made to coordinate rural and urban sociological 
work in order to reach the most important conclusions as to new- 
tendencies in the economic and social life of China. 

b. Profoundly impressed by the magnitude of the issues 
involved, the Commission recommends that as early as possible the 
investigation of the larger questions be assigned to a central Insti- 
tute of Economic and Social Research developed as a school of 
(post-) graduate study in connection with university departments 
of economics and sociology. This Institute should be recognized 
as the clearing-house for all information collected in the course 
of local investigations in any part of the field covered by Chris- 
tian education, on such questions as the following : ( i ) the eco- 
nomic position and prospects of handicrafts of different kinds as 
affected by the introduction of machinery, factory organization and 
other new elements; (2) changes in the character of land tenure 
in progress in China and the social consequences involved; (3) 
experiments in industrial cooperation and in factory organization ; 
(4) redistribution of population in relation to industrial and agri- 
cultural development ; (5) the causes of famines and the economics 
of famine relief. 

The Commission believes that the establishment of this 
Institute, staffed by Christian men with expert economic training, 
would lead to the accumulation and interpretation of sociological 
material invaluable for and probably indispensable to any far- 
reaching scheme of social reconstruction. 

c. Investigation and elucidation of the larger issues must, 
however, presuppose detailed local surveys and studies. The 
methods of Regional Survey worked out in western Europe and 
America would undoubtedly yield most valuable results in China, 
as an important experiment made in Peking already shows. 
("Peking. A Social Survey," by S. D. Gamble and J. S. Bur- 
gess.) It is strongly urged that all survey work of this kind in 
large centres, such as Shanghai and Peking, be undertaken by the 
university departments concerned, working in close cooperation 
with the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, 



228 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

and with all other groups interested in social progress, such as the 
recently formed Industrial Fellowship in Shanghai. There should 
be in each centre a local committee of social investigation and social 
service, keeping these different groups of workers in constant 
touch with each other. 

The precise relationship of the universities to the Chris- 
tian Associations in the scheme must no doubt depend upon local 
conditions, but it is clear that their functions would be distinct 
and complementary. It should be the province of the university 
departments to provide high-grade training in the principles of 
sociological science and in the methods of research, to supervise 
and direct the general plan of investigation, and to study and 
interpret the data collected. It would be the part of the Young 
Men's Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciation, to open up the necessary avenues of work, to establish 
contact with merchants, employers and others who could facili- 
tate the investigation, to enroll volunteer workers and to give 
publicity to the results obtained, by exhibitions, demonstrations, 
and lectures held on their premises.- 

As soon as possible there should be established in the 
heart of the industrial districts such as Yangtszepoo, (Shanghai), 
and in Tangshan (which best focus the new forces at work in 
China), settlements of the type of Toynbee Hall, London. The 
immense value of these settlements in the industrial districts of 
the West is well known. They have probably rendered more ser- 
vice to the cause of industrial and social betterment than any other 
single agency. Their functions would be three-fold : 

(i) They are the best possible laboratories for direct 
social investigation, especially if they are under the care of "a 
warden who is himself a well-trained sociologist. 

(2) They can be made centres of adult education and 
the headquarters of all movements which exist to humanize the 
conditions of life in congested districts. 

(3) They provide the means by which university stu- 
dents and others can be brought into direct contact with the life 
and essential needs of labor. Thus they do something to mitigate 



EDUCATION IN THE SOCIAL APPLICATION 229 

that evil segregation of classes which is, so often, one of the worst 
results of industrialism. 

The Commission expresses the hope that settlements of 
this kind will represent the joint effort of all the missionary bodies 
and all the churches at work in the district. There is no aspect 
of Christian work which calls more for union or in which there 
is less excuse for the absence of union than in the attempt to 
work out the social expressions of Christianity. 



CHAPTER IX 
EDUCATION IN LAW AND POLITICAL SCIENCE 

I. Law 

3/8. In considering the possibility of bringing the field of 
law within the scope of Christian education in China, we may 
well glance for a moment at some outstanding characteristics of 
Chinese law. We discover at once a vast difference between the 
legal system and procedure in China and that in Europe and 
America. Outside of port cities and other places where there is 
legal contact between the Chinese and foreigners, there is not 
much reliance upon law as a westerner conceives law. Opinion 
in China holds the family responsible in considerable part for the 
conduct of its members. In Chinese thought there is nothing 
irrational in punishing a family for the wrong-doing of one of its 
members. There does not seem to be any thought of a mystic 
bond making the members of the family parts of one another, 
when a community proceeds to such punishment. The assumption 
is the very plain and practical one that the family is responsible 
for keeping its separate members from wrong courses. 

379. Another body of legal procedure which is really extra- 
legal is that of the craft and merchant guilds. In China these 
guilds have a standing which no city or provincial or national 
authority would for a moment think of questioning. In all matters 
dealing with violations of rules governing trade or the manufac- 
ture of goods, the guild seems to be the final authority. Even if 
a guild should decree and carry out a death penalty, what we 
would call the state would not be likely to raise serious question. 

230 



LAW AND POLITICAL SCIENCE 231 

Village procedure does not seem closely to follow the 
formal code. If the offense does not lie strictly within the scope 
of family authority, or if it is not a guild problem, the village 
takes note of it through the agency of the elders. These elders, 
following out an essentially patriarchial custom, assess the blame 
and penalty according to informal standards which have really 
grown out of the precedents of generations. We are speaking of 
actual legal procedure. China has had for centuries most elaborate 
codified legal systems of remarkable acumen. For example no 
system of law draws out more clearly the fact that the guilt of 
murder depends on the intention of the wrongdoer than does the 
Chinese. But the Chinese formal penalties are so extreme that in 
practice the emphasis is upon informal procedure, avoiding the 
courts as far as possible. 

380. We are not sure that this Chinese custom of legal pro- 
cedure, which recognizes so slightly the formal codified system, 
can be substantially disturbed to advantage. Some of the fore- 
most students of law in Europe and America to-day are raising 
the question whether law in western lands is not becoming over- 
centralized in the state and over-codified. Earnest political 
thinkers are asking whether it would not be better to have some 
actions now punishable by formal state law taken notice of by 
trade or professional associations. And everywhere there is in- 
creasing emphasis on the wisdom of settling cases out of court. 

381. Even if China's way of settling cases which in other 
countries would go to law courts be not disturbed, there is, how- 
ever, the greatest need for the Christian missionaries to bring 
more and more of the spirit of Christ into the settlement of dis- 
putes by families and guilds and villages, and by the constituted 
Chinese authorities, where these are resorted to. Especially do we 
urge that in all such matters the progress of Christianity shall 
show itself in more and more stress on the rights of the individual. 
The distinctive mark of the Christian religion is not merely the idea 
of God but the idea of the worth of the individual as a human 
being. Admitting as we all must that the survival of China is in 
large part due to her age-long emphasis on the group, we must 



232 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

urge that after all the test of the worth of a group after it sur- 
vives is the dignity and worth attaching to the individual. 

382. Some Chinese students go to America and England to 
be trained for the practice of law in American and English courts 
in Shanghai. It has come to our attention that some such lawyers 
are setting a high standard of professional efficiency. And we call 
attention also to the fact that there is in Shanghai what is known as 
the Mixed Court, in which a foreign assessor sits on the same 
bench with the Chinese magistrate. Such a mixed court gives, of 
course, unusual opportunity for both Chinese and foreigners to 
learn the strong and weak points of both Chinese and foreign legal 
procedure, 

383. The change in the status of China from a monarchy 
to a republic, her increasing intimacy with foreign nations, and 
the introduction of western industrialism, will no doubt lead soon 
to a greater emphasis on written law. The relations to foreign 
nations will necessarily have to take the form of written enact- 
ment. Whether extra-territoriality is abandoned or not, we are 
quite confident that the increasing contact of China with foreign 
nations will lead to an enlargement of the sphere of written law, 
and we expect that the solidification of the republican form of 
government will work in the same direction. It is usually the 
case, when a nation makes a marked change in her form of gov- 
ernment, and where there are no great traditions or customs to 
guide her, that resort is had to definite written enactment of law. 
As a matter of course, industrialism implies great emphasis on the 
written contract, and judicial procedure resulting therefrom. 

384. We believe that the method of the teaching of law 
planned for the union school in Shanghai will be productive of 
good. As we understand it, this school aims at instruction in the 
direction which the development of law should take, and not 
merely at the -exposition of existing codes. Some years ago the 
Harvard Law School announced the establishment of a chair to 
give instruction in forming the growing social consciousness of 
communities, so that the dead hand of the past might not restrain 
the community animated by the spirit of the future. For legal 



LAW AND POLITICAL SCIENCE 233 

education conceived in this broad way we think that there will be 
significant place in a system of Christian education in China. 

385. In whatever system of law China works out for herself, 
the judge, or whoever performs judicial functions, will necessarily 
continue to occupy a central place. From the beginning of men's 
attempts to live together an upright and just judicial system has 
been, on the part of communities everywhere, an object of desire, 
desire so often disappointed that in many lands an incorruptible 
judiciary is looked upon as an unrealizable dream. And yet such 
a judiciary is theoretically at least more easily attainable than 
most social blessings, for judicial uprightness is so largely personal 
that excuse for default can not often be laid upon a system. Here 
is a field where the emphasis on personal fitness can have a benefi- 
cial social result. The church can, without a radical departure 
from the age-old message to the individual, hold up such an ideal 
of personal probity and incorruptibility that it must have an eflfect 
on whatever system of judicial procedure is built up in China. 

II. Political Science 

386. There is at present an awakened interest in China in the 
study of political science. The general political ferment in the 
world since the close of the World War is partly responsible for 
this, and the change through which China herself is passing makes 
political study most attractive to Chinese youths. 

We call attention to some tendencies in the teaching of 
political science which we think should be kept in mind in the 
instruction of Chinese students. 

a. The dependence of political science upon economic 
science. We are not submitting to any doctrine of economic deter- 
minism in history when we say that political movements can hardly 
be understood apart from a knowledge of economic history. It is 
a commonplace to-day in political discussion that the economic 
forces, shaping as they do the daily activities of a nation's citizens, 
shape also the way those citizens think of political issues. More 
than that, the possessors of large economic forces have admittedly 



234 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

to-day more control of the shaping of legislation and the adminis- 
tration of law than did kings when their divine right was every- 
where conceded. 

b. The possibility of controlling economic forces by high 
ideals of political action. Within the last quarter-century the ma- 
terialistic interpretation of history has been qualified by emphasis 
on the part ideals play in human affairs. Powerful as are the 
economic forces, they do not work with a blind inevitability. They 
can be brought under purposeful control. 

c. The need of right choice among these ideals. Russia 
to-day, for example, is not the outcome of the working of economic 
forces alone. The force of a political and social ideal in Russia 
is quite as important as the material situation. Political and social 
ideals all have histories ; they make certain appeals to logic ; they 
make certain claims also as to their power of dealing with given 
situations in native and human nature. All these phases of ideals 
are open to study. It is, then, folly to think that zeal for reform, 
no matter how well-intentioned, will enable us to decide which 
ideals are most worthy to be followed. Decision can be reached 
only by scholarly investigation. 

d. In the consideration of social ideals the Christian em- 
phasis must be placed on the human values. Christianity came 
into the world to exalt a certain idea of God and a certain ideal 
of human life. The ideal of human life must of necessity work 
out into expression in political terms. We insist that all pohtical 
questions must be approached from the point of view of the largest 
human welfare, and that they cannot to-day be really studied 
without such approach. For this reason we think they should have 
a large place in Christian education. 



CHAPTER X 

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND ENGINEERING 

I. Industrial Education 

387. There are at least three outstanding reasons why com- 
mercial and industrial training should have a place in any scheme 
of Christian education in China. First, there is the Christian duty 
of doing all that is possible in the relief of poverty. Let it be ad- 
mitted that the fundamental cause of poverty in China is over- 
population. It seems at times as if in China the doctrine of 
Malthus were being abundantly verified, and that if it were not 
for nature's way of restoring equilibrium between population and 
natural resources through famine and flood and plague, China 
would soon reach the place where she could not keep her people 
from outright starvation. Professor E. A. Ross estimates that in 
China five generations are brought forth in a period of time during 
which the land can support not more than four. It is claimed by 
manv social students, Professor Ross among them, that poverty 
cannot be remedied in China until the Chinese thought of the 
family is transformed ; that ancestor-worship and the desire for 
sons to carry on the family are responsible for forcing the birth- 
rate up to an abnormally high figure ; that until this radical change 
takes place in Chinese thought anything that will tend to lower the 
death-rate will only make a bad situation worse. We may admit all 
this and still insist that there is a large possibility of relief of 
poverty in China by better utilization of material resources. It may 
be true that in agriculture the land is making as large return as 
could be expected from the introduction of large scale methods, 

235 



236 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

which might dislocate the whole scheme of Chinese rural and 
village life, but the most conservative estimates indicate that there 
are large mineral and other resources as yet untouched. If these 
could be made available for China, the relief of poverty would be 
substantial. Much of China's vast labor force is uneconomically 
applied. If it be true, as is asserted, that twenty per cent of the 
labor force of China is employed in some form of transportation, 
we can see what an improvement in economic conditions would be 
brought about if, by the introduction of steam transportation, this 
labor could be released for other forms of production introduced 
at the same time. The changes that are bound to come in the next 
quarter century make necessary the training of the Chinese to 
take their part in the reorganization of Chinese industry, for the 
sake of larger material return to the Chinese people. This devel- 
opment must be accompanied by greatly increased consumption on 
the part of the Chinese themselves. The effect of the industriali- 
zation of China on world industry is another problem. 

388. A second reason for the emphasis on commercial and 
industrial education in China is the possibility of a better utiliza- 
tion of the human resources of the country by giving to promising 
youths a chance to fit themselves for larger responsibilities than 
they can assume if they are deprived of educational opportunity. 
One charge brought against the industrial system in Europe and 
America is that it stifles talent, that it wastes genius because it 
gives youths no chance to reveal the possibilities of their intellec- 
tual attainment. The charge is often made that it is the genius 
in literature and art who goes undiscovered if there is no opportu- 
nity for early education, but it is just as true that the modern 
industrial system deprives youths of their chance to show what 
they could do in business organization or in industrial management. 
If this be true in Europe and America, how much more must it 
be true in China. One of the most appalling reflections as one 
looks upon a Chinese multitude is the potential ability which is 
going to waste because of lack of discovery and of training of high 
talent through educational opportunity. If it is true that in the 
end China must have her own political and religious leaders, it is 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND ENGINEERING 237 

also true that she must have her own commercial and industrial 
leaders. If a system of industrial education could be devised in 
any land that would even once in a generation discover an industrial 
mind of the first order, that one discovery would justify the system ; 
but even a larger justification would attend the lifting of the gen- 
eral industrial and commercial leadership of a generation to higher 
efficiency. 

389. The third reason for emphasis on the necessity of 
making a place in the scheme of Christian education for commer- 
cial and industrial training is the duty of Christianizing the com- 
mercial and industrial order. This is as imperative a duty as any 
that now confronts Christianity in China. We have spoken of the 
need of industrial development in China. That development is 
bound to come. A most pressing duty is to see that it comes 
purged of some of the evil forms it has assumed in the West. 
Oriental students have been so impressed by the evils of Occidental 
industrialism that they have pronounced it a flat denial and con- 
tradiction of the Christianity which we profess and preach. Cer- 
tainly the Oriental can be pardoned for failing to see the doctrine 
of human brotherhood in western industrialism. Nor is he to be 
blamed if he fails to see much emphasis on the Christian idea of 
human values in that industrialism. 

390. There are three agencies through which an industrial 
system can be changed for the better. First, and most important, 
is the force of public opinion. In any serious struggle for larger 
human emphasis in industry the appeal is always to public opinion. 
Now public opinion acts sometimes through positive enactment 
and sometimes less formally, but when it acts its action is decisive. 
We regret to say that we do not now find in China a public opinion 
to which direct appeal can be made with any large promise of 
success in this matter. For if the pressure of public opinion is to 
be helpful in industrial progress it must be continuously applied. 
A mere popular outburst will not avail in setting more human 
standards. There is no doubt a growing public consciousness in 
China, but just now it takes the form of expression on national 
and political, rather than on industrial, matters. The simple and 



238 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

tragic fact seems to be that the masses of China have seen so 
much of hard and desperate labor by human beings that they have 
become calloused to such sights. Those instantaneous feelings of 
horror which the traveller from the West has when he first lands 
in China and sees men straining at loads that horses or motors 
should pull are frequently dulled after he has been in the Orient 
for a season. We cannot yet expect much from a public accustomed 
always to such sights, and we have every reason to be charitable 
toward a Chinese public opinion which takes scant heed of hard- 
ship in labor. 

391. The second agency through which industrial progress 
comes is the effort of the laborers themselves, usually exerted 
through some form of organization. Taking England, as ad- 
mittedly the most advanced of modern nations in the status of the 
laborer as to hours of work, conditions of shop, and terms of hire 
and discharge, we should have to admit that if we dropped out 
all the gains made by organized effort and insistence of the work- 
ers themselves, there would be very little left. Now it must be 
conceded at once that the Chinese have extraordinary capacities 
of organization. There is hardly anything superior to the Chi- 
nese craft and merchant guilds for sheer social effectiveness. In 
estimating the factors which have enabled China to hold her own 
commercially since her ports were opened to the world, we must 
give a large place to the guild system. 

392. But here again there are almost insuperable difficul- 
ties where we are dealing with the approaching industrialization 
of China. The reservoirs from which industrialism can draw are 
so vast that effective organization of workers would be fearfully 
difficult. The temptation of multitudes of half-starving men to 
"scab" on one another would be almost irresistible, especially 
since even the hardest mill conditions would not be as hard at 
the outset as the conditons under which the ordinary ricksha 
man, for example, now does his work. The possibilities of such 
organization, even among coolies, are always serious enough, how- 
ever, to give an employer, tempted to exploitation, cause for fear. 
A recent letter in a Shanghai newspaper voiced the alarm of some 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND ENGINEERING 239 

foreigner that the organization of ricksha men in Shanghai was 
being furthered by Bolshevists. 

393. There remains, then, one other agency through which 
force can be brought to bear for the Christianization, or what 
comes to the same thing, the humanization of Chinese industry. 
That is the Christian business man or industrial leader, There 
need be no denying that such a task presents to the business man 
appalling difficulties, but there is ground for hope. We have 
found Chinese business men who seem sincerely anxious about 
giving their employees as fair wages and as good shop conditions 
as the business will warrant ; and such men are the hope of the 
future. If we can have an increasing number of them they will 
not only be of help to their own employees, but they will have 
an influence both on the consciousness of the laborer and on 
public opinion. 

394. We must not cherish any delusions as to the nature 
of the task we are proposing. If China is in any degree to be 
preserved from the evils of industrialism through the efforts and 
character of Christian Chinese business leaders, those leaders 
must be of a stamp not yet produced in sufficient number either 
in England or America to Christianize industry. The new leaders 
must be prepared to make some thorough-going and fundamental 
changes in the industrial system. Especially must modern in- 
dustrialism take on a new spirit in China, the spirit of service 
as over against that of private gain. It is not to be expected that 
men who have money will invest it in Chinese industry without 
hope of return. But there is a vast difference between fair re- 
turn upon an investment, and exploitation of a nation's resources 
in material and in men. The plain fact is that China is to-day 
one of the richest prizes before the industrial world ; and the at- 
tractiveness is quite as much in her exploitable labor as in her un- 
touched mineral resources. In Europe and America labor has so 
far won its battle that wages must be considered as a larger ele- 
ment in cost of production than ever before; and no matter 
how much wages may be reduced, they will never go back to the 
old figure of ten or fifteen years ago. Before investment-seek- 



240 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ing industrialists, the four hundred millions of Chinese present 
a field tempting beyond all imagination. If Chinese leaders, or 
leaders interested in China, are to save the country from ex- 
ploitation, their voices must be strong enough to carry practically 
around the world, for it will be a world-wide pressure against 
which they will have to contend. If the perils of industrialism 
seem slight to us, let us ask ourselves what will happen if ten 
million Chinese are employed at low wages in mills and then are 
thrown out of employment by a trade fluctuation? Science may 
indeed find some way of preventing the overflow of the Yellow 
River. She has not yet found a way of dealing with unemploy- 
ment. Unemployment in industrialized China would be as deadly 
as a flood of the Yellow River. 

395. While the wider world-phases of the industrialization 
of China lie, strictly speaking, beyond the scope of this Report, 
it may be well for us to note that if China is industrialized with- 
out such elevation of wage-standards as will bring them into some 
conformity to Occidental standards the effect may be world-wide 
calamity. If China sends upon western markets vast masses of 
goods made at present-day low labor costs (which costs in some 
instances have allowed stock-holders to make profits of 100 per 
cent), the effect will be either that the western nations will ex- 
clude such goods, which will mean disastrous unemployment sea- 
sons in China, or will admit them, to the immeasurable damage 
of western labor standards. And out beyond all this lurk the pos- 
sibilities of international misunderstanding and conflict. 

396. Such then is the industrial condition and outlook 
in China. Its seriousness can not be overlooked. What is to 
be the attitude of the Christian church towards it? Has 
the church any responsibility for shaping this new industrialism 
so that China may be saved from the ills that have cursed 
Europe and America, and if she has any responsibility, what can 
she do? 

To these questions there can be but one answer. The 
church which is seeking to create in China a social order that shall 
be directed by the spirit of Christ can not fail to face this situation 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND ENGINEERING 241 

and face it in a large way. The church will be untrue to its com- 
mission, if it does not deal with this situation heroically. 

The church has only one instrument with which to meet the 
situation and that is education. Through the vigorous prosecution 
of the right kind of education she may make a great contribution 
in Christianizing the new industrialism of China. No efforts less 
than heroic will count, the task is so great. 

397. It must be borne in mind that if the church undertakes 
the task of giving students commercial and industrial education 
she must not fail to make the training efficient and to keep alive the 
Christian spirit in the men trained. For failure to make the train- 
ing efficient would at once lead to contempt for Christian education 
in a field where ready appeal can be made to results as a test of 
success; and failure to imbue the student of commerce and in- 
dustry with a Christian spirit would be httle short of disaster. 
To say nothing of the harm done by the selfish or unsocial stu- 
dent himself, the charge could be brought with deadly effective- 
ness that Christianity makes itself an ally of the industrial system 
by supplying that system with Chinese minds trained to exploit 
their fellows. 

398. The student who aspires to commercial and industrial 
leadership should not fail to devote serious attention to the more 
human phases of political economy, questions of population and 
labor in particular. There is nothing more common in America 
than for a business leader, admittedly successful according to 
current commercial and industrial standards, to discuss labor 
problems in terms which show that he is completely out of touch 
with what is going forward in labor debates and even in general 
social discussion. That a man is successful in business does not 
necessarily mean that he is an authority on general social ques- 
tions, or the highest type of authority even in business. 

399. It will be seen from a reference to the Chapter on Sec- 
ondary Schools (Sections 159, i66fif.), that the importance of 
training for trades has not been overlooked. It is not neces- 
sary for us, therefore, to make suggestions here as to details of 
curriculum, either in the middle schools or colleges, for the em- 



242 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

phasis in the Chapters on Secondary and Collegiate Education is 
on occupational training. 

400. It may be permissible to say a word about the signifi- 
cance of industrial teaching for its general effect in a nation like 
China. Probably no nation has done more in a certain literary 
type of scholarship than has China. But it is the merest com- 
monplace that the scholar's life and the manual worker's life have 
been kept too much apart. Scholarship has busied itself with 
problems remote from, or having little bearing on, the actual 
work-a-day life. So that in the higher intellectual life of China 
there is a lack of close connection with the actual. Industrial 
training, if it is seriously undertaken, will be a corrective for 
this in China as elsewhere. One advantage of working with tools 
is that error is likely to have immediate consequences of a painful 
nature. Moreover, in China and elsewhere, students need to learn 
that scholarship may go hand-in-hand with earnest manual labor. 
One way to dignify labor everywhere is to put more science into 
it, and to make the work of the hands a test of intellectual capacity. 

401. We are not so much concerned with the details of the 
curriculum in industrial education as with its purpose and with 
the spirit in which it is taught. Work must have a definite aim if 
it would make the student earnest and serious. The trade schools 
of the West which have been most satisfactory have been those 
which have given the pupils real tasks to perform. Home eco- 
nomics courses in high schools, where the young women are not 
seriously trying to learn how to cook, produce about the same 
sort of result as do trade courses where the occupational aim is 
not positive and well-defined. Occupational courses have clear 
cultural value, but such value comes as the worker loses himself 
in the doing of the work, knowing that his place in the life to 
which he is going is to be determined by the quality of his work in 
the school. 

II. Schools of Engineering 

402. When we come to the problem of instruction in en- 
gineering in a system of Christian education, we are in a some- 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND ENGINEERING 243 

what different realm from that of commercial and industrial edu- 
cation in the sense in which we have been using the terms. 
Engineering is, of course, highly technical and calls for most 
expensive plants and equipment. Moreover, proficiency in engi- 
neering almost inevitably leads to generous financial remunera- 
tion; so that in view of the possibility of the engineer being well- 
paid in his professional career, we may well ask if he should not 
himself make the financial outlay involved in training for engi- 
neering. For this reason, and for others like it, Christian edu- 
cators often say that those who desire instruction in engineering 
should seek such equipment outside of mission schools, and at 
their own expense. It does not indeed seem right to take funds 
contributed by the churches, and devote them to highly technical 
and specialized instruction, when the mass of the Chinese youth 
lack even the rudiments of the simplest education. 

403. We must remember, however, that we cannot treat such 
a theme as this simply from the point of view of the generous 
salaries or fees received by engineers. In America the state main- 
tains high-grade technical institutions where the fees paid by 
students are almost nothing as compared with the cost of the 
education of each student. Schools of chemical, electrical, min- 
ing, mechanical, sanitary engineering, consume a large part of 
the funds year by year appropriated by the legislatures of the 
states to state universities. The question as to the size of the 
fees to be earned by graduate engineers is seldom raised. The 
theory underlying the appropriation is that the importance of the 
mastery of the earth and its forces is so great and the general 
benefit to society from the work of any engineer likely to com- 
mand large remuneration is so vast, as to make the return to the 
engineer himself of small consequence in comparison. 

404. Again, we must remember that engineers to-day are 
likely to be men of rather unusually fine sense of honor. Engi- 
neering associations have codes of professional ethics which are 
much more than refinements of etiquette. Sound moral princi- 
ples at least in part form the groundwork of such codes. Again 
expert engineers are likely to possess an unusually well developed 



244 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

social sense. Within the past year two reports from engineers in 
the United States have attracted wide attention because of the 
social spirit which has pervaded them. One was a report by the 
Taylor Society of Philadelphia in favor of the eight-hour day 
in basic industries and the other by a committee of engineers 
appointed by Mr. Herbert Hoover on the subject of waste in 
American industry. Both reports, while altogether scientific in 
their methods, were thoroughly permeated with a social spirit. 
In the strained relations between employers and employed the 
engineer has a vantage point from which he can work most ef- 
fectively to bring about better understanding and adjustment. 
He knows by first-hand contact both the employer and the em- 
ployed, and is so accustomed to deal with such situations that he 
is likely to be able to speak a final word on the actual working 
adjusments which ordinarily settle labor difficulties. 

405. For such reasons as the above the question as to the 
advisability of giving engineering courses in schools supported 
by Christian missions cannot be lightly put aside. Still, we do not 
feel that the support of such courses can rightly be made a charge 
upon the funds of missionary treasuries which come from church 
contributions. We approve, however, of establishing courses in 
engineering where funds for such courses are available from 
outside of the regular channels, as through the bequests or con- 
tributions of those who are impressed with the importance of such 
instruction. 

406. Where engineering courses are given, we suggest that 
there be given with them such courses as will keep before the 
mind of the students the ideals of a Christian social order. It 
would be little short of disastrous for Christian schools to send 
forth highly trained experts who would ally themselves with the 
evil forces of an industrial order which the Chinese might soon 
come to look upon as a part of foreign schemes of exploitation. 
We have seen mills in China in which little girls under ten years 
of age work a thirteen hour day from five in the morning to 
six at night in a steam-charged atmosphere, for a wage of ten 
cents a day. The fact that these particular mills are under Chi- 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION AND ENGINEERING 245 

nese management and ownership does not make it less imperative 
for us to say that if technically trained graduates of Christian 
schools in China become supporting or acquiescent parts of such 
a system of exploitation, such students will soon be undoing a 
large part of the good produced by Christian instruction. 

407. One word of caution seems necessary. The acceptance 
of gifts or payments from manufacturing concerns in return for 
services rendered or expected, is, in the present industrial situa- 
tion in China, dangerous. No school should in any way abridge 
its own freedom of teaching in the field of social ethics. 

408. In conclusion, certain general considerations must be 
kept in mind as bearing upon all branches of service discussed 
above. In all there is need primarily and fundamentally of em- 
phasis upon the elementary virtues of honesty and integrity. We 
do not intend any reflection upon Chinese character when we say 
that the temptations to financial irregularity are peculiarly strong 
in China. The temptation to low standards comes out of the age- 
long struggle in China for physical existence. Thrift becomes per- 
verted into something quite other than thrift. In the next place, 
all lines of service, it seems to us, should strive to supplement 
the Chinese idea of the importance of the group with emphasis 
upon the inalienable sacredness of the individual ; an emphasis 
which the types of industrialism which are coming into China do 
not make. If we could secure such emphasis many of our most 
difficult problems would be on the way to solution. Finally, the 
best work in commercial and industrial training cannot be done 
without unselfish devotion to problems of research. The willing- 
ness to deal with such research problems is a sign of real earnest- 
ness and sincerity on the part of those using commerce and 
industry for purposes of social progress. 



CHAPTER XI 

ADULT EDUCATION 

409. In the last two decades Adult Education has made rapid 
strides in most western countries, and in some it seems likely to 
occupy as important a place in the national scheme of instruction 
as primary, secondary, or university education. The recent re- 
port of the Committee on Adult Education appointed by the 
English Ministry of Reconstruction is rightly regarded as a sig- 
nificant landmark in the history of educational endeavor. 

It is important to note the causes for the great impetus 
which the movement has received : ( i ) It is partly due to the de- 
mand of labor for participation in the intellectual no less than 
in the economic advantages of the professional classes, and to an 
awakening mental curiosity among the artisans of the great in- 
dustrial centres. (2) It is partly the product of the movement 
towards social and political democracy, the success of which, it 
is increasingly realized, depends upon it. A really intelligent 
exercise of citizenship in the modern world demands an equipment 
in knowledge and ideas for which an ordinary school education 
can do no more than lay the foundations. (3) As a result of the 
war the movement has been strengthened by a third factor in- 
fluencing not only labor but the mercantile community, a desire 
to understand the relationship of groups and nations to each other 
and to discover the means for building up a better and more stable 
world order. As illustrating this aspect of its development it is 
interesting to notice that out of the remarkable movement which 
produced the Workers' Educational Association and the Univer- 
sity Tutorial Class Movement in England, there has recently de- 

246 



■ ADULT EDUCATION 247 

veloped the World Association for Adult Education, which exists 
to extend these activities to other lands and to draw together the 
peoples of the world on the following basis. 

"It is the mission of the World Association to bring into 
cooperation and mutual relationship the adult educational move- 
ments and institutions of the world, in order that peoples may 
proceed in greater power through wisdom, the mother of all 
things, to knowledge, and help to bring about on earth the finer 
working of such a political and social order as may minister to 
more complete individual lives, and which the several nations in 
their degree and place may deem it wise to adopt." 

410. On what basis and along what lines may the Chinese 
nation "in its degree and place" participate in this great movement 
towards the emancipation of the human spirit and the solidarity 
of peoples? And what part can the Christian system of education 
play in promoting an aim so essentially in harmony with its own 
ideals for China? The goal of adult education must be the same 
in China as in the West if, as the best of her sons desire, she is to 
take her place among the self-governing democracies of the world. 
But the methods and machinery to be adopted must be determined 
by the historical background and economic conditions of the 
country and by the stage of development which its school system 
of education has reached. In China we have to reckon with cer- 
tain fundamental facts in attempting to form a policy for adult 
education. 

a. At least eighty-five per cent of the adult population 
is illiterate. 

b. Many millions of workers live under economic con- 
ditions which produce a struggle for existence of almost un- 
paralleled intensity, so that the margin of leisure and energy left 
over from the struggle for existence is pitiably small. But as 
against this must be set two statements, (i) In most country 
districts there is a period of the year when agricultural work is 
more or less suspended. In the north it is of considerable dura- 
tion, on the average about three months of winter, and even in the 
south it extends over several weeks. (2) In the towns, and indeed 



248 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

almost everywhere there are large numbers of adults with a great 
deal of time on their hands, as the superfluous number of clerks 
to be seen in almost every shop abundantly testifies. Thus the 
problem is not wholly one of raising the standard of comfort 
but partly one of a better and fairer distribution of labor and of 
turning to good account what in the aggregate is an enormous 
amount of idle time. The big crowds which a well-organised 
course of lectures attracts in almost any Chinese city to-day is 
witness to the fact that immense opportunities exist. 

c. Although in China there is a greater traditional re- 
spect for learning than in almost any other country, it has always 
been associated with a particular class. The idea of an intimate 
connection between labor and education is quite foreign to tra- 
ditional Chinese thinking. 

411. These circumstances make the problem of adult educa- 
tion very different from that in western countries, and in some 
ways much more difficult. But if it is more difficult it is even 
more urgent. There are few greater needs in China than that of 
producing quickly an intelligent and educated public opinion 
capable of exercising some control over national affairs. Polit- 
ically, "China's Only Hope," to use the title of Viceroy Chang 
Chi Tung's well-known book, would seem to be either a benevolent 
despotism or an educated democracy. All that is most active and 
virile in Young China rejects the first and desires the second. 
But an educated democracy cannot be achieved by the present 
school and college system, even if it progresses at a much more 
rapid rate than now seems likely, in less than three or four genera- 
tions. China cannot afford to wait so long as that for a stable 
and efficient government, and so numerous are the grave interna- 
tional issues involved that the world as represented by the Great 
Powers is hardly likely to wait for it. Therefore, it is difficult 
to escape from the conclusion that in an organised and sustained 
campaign for adult education to supplement the work of the 
schools lies the chief hope for the political salvation of China. 
This thought is undoubtedly present in the minds of thousands of 
the more reflective young Chinese of the student class. The most 



ADULT EDUCATION ^40 

hopeful factor in the whole situation is the existence of what in 
the aggregate is already a great student force capable of being 
used for this most pressing form of social service. The task 
of those who direct the movement for adult education is both 
to increase it and to direct its use to the greatest possible ad- 
vantage. 

412. There is no space in this Report for any adequate re- 
view of the present position of adult education in China. A most 
useful, although incomplete, summary is contained in Bulletin 
VIII of the World Association for Adult Education under the 
title "Adult Education in China." The following generalizations 
may, however, be made. 

a. Both the central government at Peking, represented 
by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture and 
Commerce, and the Ministry of Communications, and many pro- 
vincial governments have developed some activities in the form of 
adult education. These vary greatly in extent and continuity in 
the different provinces, Shansi at present leading the way alike 
in organisation, in the comprehensiveness of its programme and in 
the production and distribution of special literature. But it is ad- 
mitted that the task of organising primary and middle school 
education will be so heavy that the government will leave adult 
education mainly to voluntary effort. 

b. There is a considerable number of voluntary agencies 
outside the Christian system known as "popular educational asso- 
ciations," of which one at least, the Peking Association, has already 
performed valuable work in preparing and arranging suitable 
literature. 

c. It is difficult to make any general statements regard- 
ing the part which the Christian system of education has so far 
played in the work. Reference is made elsewhere to the numerous 
"People's Schools" organised by students of Christian middle 
schools and colleges. There are many instances of striking indi- 
vidual activity, and a special tribute is due to the work of Mr. T. I. 
Tong of the Shanghai College in preparing suitable text-books for 
adult illiterates on the 600 character system. The increasing ac- 



250 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

tivity of the Young Men's Christian Association in this field is 
very marked. But it may fairly be said of the Christian system 
as a whole that its etTorts in this direction have so far been spas- 
modic and uncoordinated and that it has not yet developed any 
systematic policy or programme of adult education. There is, 
however, a growing feeling that this will have to come quickly if 
the Christian forces are to make their influence widely felt in 
moulding public opinion, and we are thus brought to the consid- 
eration of what should be the special objectives of adult education 
under Christian auspices in China in the light of the factors al- 
ready discussed. 

413. Special objectives. — The main purpose must undoubt- 
edly be the development of public opinion and of citizenship on 
Christian lines, this object involving also the ideals indicated in 
the introductory paragraph. Along what lines can this purpose 
best bo achieved? 

a. A strong anil sustained campaign against illiteracy is 
one of the most inij^ortant aims and is an indispensable condition 
of the success of the whole movement. Its organization must not 
only provide for teaching illiterates to read and write but also 
supply suitably graded literature adapted to different groups, 
farmers, soldiers, artisans, in all essential aspects of citizenship. 
To achieve this purpose the task of the immediate future is to 
link up the scattered etforts now being made. There is room 
for a large number of experiments, but a central organisation is 
necessary in order : 

( 1 ) To determine the larger features of the policy to 
be followed with respect to such essential matters as the employ- 
ment of "foundation characters," * and the use of the phonetic 
script, on which there ought to be substantial agreement, 

(j) To ensure concentration of effort in concerted cam- 
paigns. For example, well-organised winter campaigns in par- 
ticular country districts might achieve great results in a few 
weeks. 

(3) To keep scattered groups of voluntary workers in 

' "Foundation ohar.icters" are those that are most essential tor everyday use. 



ADULT EDUCATION 251 

touch with each other, with the results of well-tested experi- 
ments, and with the latest literature. 

(4) To arrange periodical conferences, to collect and 
tabulate statistics, to work out the most effective form of co- 
operation with governmental and other agencies and to keep the 
movement in China in touch with similar movements in other 
countries. 

b. Complementary to this first objective and so closely 
connected with it that it should come within the same general 
organisation, is the aim of introducing new ideas, awakening 
curiosity, and creating a desire for knowledge through a well- 
organised system of popular lectures. It is clear that this type 
of work may both prepare the way for adult schools and also 
build upon the foundations which these schools lay. But it calls 
for a different class of workers, especially trained in the art of 
popular lecturing and versed in modern methods of visual in- 
struction. 

These are probably the two most important aspects of 
adult education of the more elementary kind, and it is to be hoped 
that it will more and more be linked up with the ordinary school 
system. The ideal is that every school should regard itself and 
be regarded by the people as a school of the whole community, 
i.e., it should consciously seek to function as an educational centre 
for the out-of-school members of the community, whether chil- 
dren or adults, and not limit its services to those who can attend 
its courses for full time during the day. 

c. But adult education is concerned with much more 
than teaching the rudiments of knowledge. Its highest function 
is to build upon the foundations which the schools lay and to 
prove that education is a continuous process which ends only with 
life itself. Continuation and extension work must form an essen- 
tial part of its programme in China if the ideal of an educated 
democracy is to be realised. From that point of vievy, indeed, 
intensive work among a limited number of adults is just as essen- 
tial as extensive work among the masses. 

^ 414. At present the only form of continuation work at all 



252 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

extensively developed in China under Christian auspices consists 
of evening classes in English, typewriting, bookkeeping, and sim- 
ilar subjects adapted to the needs of clerks and young business 
men, and it is almost wholly vocational in character. There is, 
of course, a great demand for classes of this kind in the com- 
mercial cities of China, and, as conducted by the Young Men's 
Christian Association, it helps to keep an important section of 
the community in touch with Christian influences. But there is 
a real danger of its absorbing too large a part of the time and 
energies of those who can devote themselves to adult work. It 
is a form of adult education which, it is to be hoped, will be in- 
creasingly provided by public authorities or by business organisa- 
tions directly interested in promoting it. 

415. In the countries where adult education has accom- 
plished most, it has come to be applied almost exclusively to non- 
vocational as contrasted with vocational effort on the part of 
men and women acting in common to promote better citizenship. 
It can hardly be doubted that the chief goal of the more advanced 
type of adult education under Christian auspices in China is the 
moulding of public opinion on the more delicate and difficult but 
vital issues of Chinese citizenship and particularly those involved 
in the improvement of social, industrial and political conditions. 

416. It is here that the Christian colleges through some form 
of university extension can make their greatest contribution to 
the movement by appealing directly to the educated as distinct 
from the uneducated public. It is perhaps one of the most hope- 
ful signs of our time that the educated classes, or at least an im- 
portant and influential section of them, are in nearly all countries 
beginning to realise their own under-education and are seeking 
for more light in all that appertains to a better social order and 
better national relationships. Such a class is already to be found 
in nearly all the strategic centres of China, both among the Chi- 
nese themselves and the foreign community. There is at any 
rate an important minority among the great employers of labour 
and the organizers of commerce and industry who are profoundly 
dissatisfied with the present order of things, and who realise the 



ADULT EDUCATION 253 

terrible menace to society involved in a "laissez faire" attitude 
towards the social conditions fast developing in the great cities. 
The report of the official commission appointed to enquire into 
industrial conditions at Hongkong; the recent discussion in the 
press about the factory population of Shanghai ; the interest 
aroused by the propaganda of the League of Reconciliation, are 
all signs of a new social consciousness to which appeal can be 
made. It will be part of the function of the Christian colleges, 
through the departments which are concerned with the social sci- 
ences, to give by means of public lecture courses and organized 
discussion classes, all the lead and enlightenment on these vital 
social questions of which they are capable. University extension 
work of this kind, especially if it could utiHze the results of sys- 
tematic investigation to be undertaken, as is advocated elsewhere, 
by a Christian Institute of Economic Research, might exercise an 
incalculably important influence upon industrial policy. If it did 
nothing else than to ensure support and backing for those em- 
ployers and directors of industry who have it in their power to 
initiate experiments in industrial organization, it would achieve 
a great result. 

417. It is not only the employing and merchant classes that 
will have to be considered from the standpoint of this higher type 
of teaching. There are already signs of a labor movement in 
China, as evidenced by new forms of associations among em- 
ployees, and indeed by the familiar phenomenon of strikes. A 
labor movement implies the emergence of labor leadership, 
although probably not on quite the same lines as in the West. 
Nothing is more surely discredited by the experiences of all 
countries which have passed through the various phases of indus- 
trialism than the attempt to suppress labor leadership or to with- 
hold higher education from it. All who believe in the attainment 
of social righteousness through understanding rather than through 
violence must hope that the Christian colleges may play their part 
in developing an educated aristocracy of labor in China. The 
University Tutorial Class movement in England, which has 
brought the universities into direct and fruitful contact with some 



254 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

of iho tinost iniiuls in the labor worlil. stands for a h'pe of adult 
education deserving of most careful study by all who are inter- 
ested in the industrial future of China. It is not, of course, sug- 
gested that an organization of this kind can be brought into 
existence in China for many years to come, but that as soon as 
practicable cautious experiments in this direction should be made, 
especially in the new factory districts and the great commercial 
cities. For this purpose it is essential to secure the active good- 
will and cooperation of all great employers of labor who be- 
lieve, as an increasing number do believe, that the stability of 
society ultimately depends upon education. 

41S. The case for a definite programme of adult education 
as undertaken by the Christian forces and for a better coordi- 
nation of the etYorts now being made has already been argued. 
It seems essential that there should come into existence an ad- 
visory body representative of all the chief agencies taking part 
or likely to take part in this class of work, and that this body 
should be intimately associated with the organization responsible 
for school and college education. The Commission, therefore, 
recommends : 

a. That adult education should form one department of 
the China Christian Education Association with its own coiuicil 
and secretary. 

b. That the council should consist of represeiitatives of 
the following: (i) the Councils of the Departments of Elementary 
and Secondary Education and of Higher Education of the China 
Christian Educational Association; (2) the missions and churches, 
acting through the National Christian Council as soon as this is 
constituted; (^3") the national executives of the Young Men's 
Christian Association and Young ^Vomen's Christian Association ; 
1^4) the China Christian Literature Council. 

c. That the p^o^^ncial boards of education act as the 
agencies for promoting adult education in their respective areas. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

I. Introduction 

419. The education of girls is included with that of boys 
throughout the Report of the Commission, but is also touched upon 
in this separate chapter in order to emphasize certain phases of the 
subject. 

In this connection, the Commission wishes to acknowl- 
edge the assistance received from the report of the Deputation 
from the Federation of Women's Boards of Foreign Missions, 
which visited China two years ago. 



II. Early History 

420, Schools for girls are of comparatively recent origin in 
China, but it would be erroneous to assume that no women re- 
ceived any education whatever in ancient China. Many well-to-do 
homes conducted private schools for the children of the family, 
and while these were intended primarily for boys, girls were 
not infrequently permitted to attend them also. In these schools 
they were taught penmanship, painting, poetry, and music, and 
committed many of the classics to memory. 

The great mass of girls received no training in the read- 
ing of books or writing of compositions. Yet even they were not 
wholly without education since they were taught to spin and 
weave, to prepare food, to care for children, and to act with pro- 
priety in all their relationships. The fact that, even in the pioneer 
period, there were a few Chinese women teachers in the mission 

255 



256 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

schools, indicates that there were at least a few women who had 
an education of some sort. 



III. The Beginnings of Modern Education of Women 

421. Mission schools. — The opportunities for education in 
the sense in which education is imparted by means of schools 
were first brought to the women of China by Christian mission- 
aries. It is with their work, therefore, that the story of the new 
era in woman's education must begin. 

a. The first school for Chinese girls was opened in 
Singapore in 1825, by Miss Grant, an English woman. Nine 
years later a group of English women organized "The Society 
for Promoting Female Education in the East," and in 1837, Miss 
Aldersey, a missionary of this society, established another school 
for Chinese girls on the island of Java. In 1842, when the five 
treaty ports were opened to foreigners, Miss Aldersey • went to 
Ningpo, and there, in 1844, established the first school for girls 
in China. Between 1847 ^^^ i860, eleven other mission schools 
for girls were opened in the five treaty ports. 

In 1858 the whole of China was opened by treaty to 
mission work, and while public opinion delayed the opening of 
schools for girls in North China for six years, the American 
Board opened two girls' schools in 1864, one in Peking and one 
in Tientsin. The pioneer girls' school of Central China was 
opened in 1873. 

b. It is almost impossible to have any real conception 
to-day of the obstacles and difficulties which the pioneers in the 
establishment of schools for girls in China had to meet. Not 
only was it necessary to combat custom, but also to overcome 
the innumerable fears, suspicions, and prejudices inspired by the 
fact that the teachers were foreigners. It was possible, at first, 
to secure only little slave girls, homeless foundlings, or the chil- 
dren of the poorest of the poor, who were induced, by promises 
of food and clothing, to risk the perils of entrusting the children 
to the foreigners. Yet through these pioneer school girls, the 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 257 

believers in Cliinese womanhood gave to China convincing proof 
that her daughters were as capable and worthy of education as 
her sons. 

c. The course of study in these schools was very like 
that given in schools in the West at that time. The Presbyterian 
school in Ningpo, reported, in 1849, the following schedule: 
"The girls are taught to read their own language. They do not 
learn the Chinese classics but study books containing Christian 
instruction, and some elementary books in science. They are 
taught Scripture history orally by means of questions and an- 
swers. Arithmetic and geography form a part of their studies 
and two of the girls are learning English. They are trained in 
habits of industry and taught in such kinds of work as will fit 
them for usefulness in the stations they may occupy in future 
life." The school in Foochow included in its course of study, in 
1864, Christian morals and doctrine, geography, history, astron- 
omy, mathematics, daily reading of the Bible, also needlework 
and domestic economy. 

422. Private schools. — The first school for girls established, 
financed and conducted by Chinese people, was opened in Shanghai 
in 1897. Among the subjects taught were English, reading, spell- 
ing, Chinese, arithmetic, geography, drawing and foreign sewing. 
In 1899, less than two years after its establishment, an edict of 
the Empress Dowager closed this school, but two years later, 
the Boxer Uprising over, the Empress Dowager reversed her 
policy, and issued an edict permitting the opening of girls' schools. 
Each of the years 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1904, witnessed the open- 
ing of a girls' school in Shanghai, the first two of which are still 
among the largest and most prosperous girls' schools in the city. 
Four more were established in 1905, and three in 1906. At the 
order of the Empress a large Lama convent in Peking was trans- 
formed into a school for girls and a number of Manchu princesses 
in the North were quick to follow her example. In other parts of 
China also, privately established and financed girls' schools were 
started, and such schools are now found in practically every city 



258 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

of size. They are of several types and of varying degrees of 
efficiency. 

423. Government schools. — Although the edict of the Em- 
press Dowager, in 1901, permitted the establishment of schools 
for girls on the part of the Chinese, it was not until 1907 that 
such schools were definitely provided for by the government. At 
that time a system of education was outlined, similar to that 
planned for boys in 1903. 

Miss Ida Lewis, in "The Education of Girls in China," 
gives the following summary of the decrees of the new government 
concerning education for women : 

"When the educational laws for the Republic were 
drawn up in 1912, the Minister of Education issued this most 
important order : 'The firmness of the foundation upon which the 
Republic of China has been founded depends on education. We 
must, hereafter, make our best effort to develop and encourage 
woman's education as well as that for men. We must emphasize 
and provide for social as well as school education.' 

"To make the education of girls more possible the Board 
of Education decreed on May 11, 1912, that Tn the lower ele- 
mentary grades boys and girls may attend the same school. The 
boys and girls in higher primary schools, however, are required 
to form separate classes.' 

"Soon followed the order that definitely established the 
ideal of universal education and the aim of the minimum length 
for school life. The law makes no distinction between girls and 
boys." 

That the government's ideals have not yet become reali- 
ties does not alter the significant fact that the Republic of China 
had girls as well as boys in mind when it outlined its educational 
plans and policies. 

IV. Present Situation: Proportionate Provision for Education of 

Boys and Girls 

424. Comparison of Christian and government schools. — 
In the Christian system of education, girls' schools have a much 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 259 

larger place than in the government system. The percentage of 
girls in Christian elementary schools is eight times as large as in 
government elementary schools ; in secondary schools it is nine 
times, and in higher education, ten times as large as in the gov- 
ernment system. 

425. Proportion of boys and girls in Christian schools.— 
The number of boys in Christian elementary schools is more 
than double the number of girls; in secondary schools nearly five 
times as many, and ten to one in higher education. The latest 
figures give a total enrollment in secondary schools of 2,569 girls, 
12,644 boys. The highest percentage of girls in secondary schools 
is found in the province of Kiangsi. Kiangsu, which leads in the 
total number of students, drops to fourth place in the proportion 
of girl students, and Kwantung to tenth place. 

426. Importance of the middle school in the education of 
girls. — The middle schools are the key to the problem. If they 
are weak the elementary schools will lack teachers and the col- 
leges will remain small and ineffective. The colleges have already 
stimulated a growth in numbers in the middle schools. The en- 
rollment in a group of schools which sends students to college 
has more than doubled in five years and a tendency is shown to 
hold girls longer in school. Along with the increased interest 
in the education of girls, parents may be discovering that it pays 
to educate their daughters, both because they become a source of 
income to the family and because they make better marriages. 

427. Increase in self support. — The number of students pay- 
ing full fees is steadily increasing, and the fees themselves are 
bearing a larger share of the costs. The fees are low in many 
schools, probably lower than is wise or necessary, if adequate funds 
for aiding worthy students are included in the budget. Christian 
schools face the difficulty of existing side by side with govern- 
ment schools which are free, and the idea of paying for the edu- 
cation of girls needs to be cultivated. 

428. Denominational schools. — In a list of forty-two Chris- 
tian middle schools from which students have gone on to college, 
twelve are of one denomination. This church leads in oflFerine 



26o CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

girls a chance and in stimulating in them a desire to go on. More 
than one-half the total number of middle school girls are enrolled 
in schools of this denomination, meaning for that church more 
and better elementary schools and a larger share in the oppor- 
tunities of higher training in college. In one of the union col- 
leges, forty-five per cent of the students are of the same denomi- 
nation. If other denominations were taking their full share in 
this most rewarding effort, the Christian church would be able 
to-day to enter more fully into the large opportunity in government 
schools and in social evangelism in the cities. 

429. Religious status of students. — The proportion of girls 
coming from non-Christian homes is evidence that the schools are 
approved outside the Christian circle. Their value as an evan- 
gelizing agency is shown when the percentage from Christian 
homes is compared with the percentage of Christian students. 
The following figures from one institution are significant: twenty 
per cent of the students are from Christian homes, ninety-two per 
cent are Christians. In one of the colleges one-third of the stu- 
dents are from non-Christian homes, but more than nine-tenths 
of the girls are Christians, the result of Christian influence in the 
middle schools. 

430. Teacher training in the middle schools.- — -The girls' mid- 
dle schools are making a marked contribution to the ranks of 
teachers. A large majority of their graduates, as well as many 
who do not complete the course, teach. For some years the schools 
have given teacher training to their students and a system of pupil 
teachers for lower classes has offered practice under supervision. 
When there has been failure in this effort to meet vocational de- 
mands it has been because of inadequate staff and lack of training, 
not through unwillingness or ignorance of the need. 

431. Vocational schools. — A few normal schools, including 
kindergarten training schools, and numerous Bible training schools 
of various grades, are to be found in all sections of China. The 
normal schools are chiefly of middle school grade or lower, as are 
most of the Bible training schools. The Physical Training School 
of Shanghai, under the Young Women's Christian Association, 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 261 

is now requiring middle school graduation and enters the ranks 
of institutions of college grade. 

432. Colleges for zvomen. — The college stage was reached in 
1908 when the Union College for Women in Peking (now 
Yenching College) was started. In Nanking, about the same 
time, the Methodist girls' school carried work above the middle 
school as the Nanking Woman's College, and pioneered in co- 
education in some classes with the boys of Nanking University. 
This was discontinued when plans for a union college were formed. 
Ginhng College opened in 191 5, and has graduated three classes, 
conferring the A. B. degree under the Regents of the University 
of the State of New York. In Foochow, South China College 
(Hwa Nang) began work above the middle school in 1914, and 
has graduated one class. 

433. Coeducation. — Canton Christian College is now coedu- 
cational, graduating one woman in 1921. Shanghai Baptist Col- 
lege admitted women in 1920, and Yale-in-China (in Changsha) 
admitted two students to the pre-medical course in 1921. In 
Canton coeducation was an evolution. In Shanghai and Changsha 
it followed the adoption of coeducation in government schools 
in response to a small local demand. Yenching, in 1920, be- 
came afBliated with Peking University. Present enrollments are 
as follows : Yenching, including two years of pre-college work, 
118; Ginling, 70; Hwa Nang, 30; Canton, 23; Shanghai, 9; 
Yale, 2. 

434. Government schools for girls. — In the government sys- 
tem only nine middle schools for girls, with 622 students, were 
reported in 19 19. The emphasis has been on the normal school, 
and fifty-four of these schools are reported with 5,203 students. 
The government is favoring the use of women teachers in all 
elementary schools and coeducation in elementary and higher 
education, not in secondary schools. In 1919 the higher normal 
school for girls in Peking advanced to college grade and the Na- 
tional University admitted women. In 1920 the Government 
Teachers' College in Nanking, now Southeastern University, and 
in 1921, Nan Kai College in Tientsin, admitted women. Present 



262 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

enrollments are as follows: National University of Peking, 20; 
Southeastern University, 15; Nan Kai, 16. 

V. Problems in Girls' Schools 

435. The problem of teachers. — In the case of women teach- 
ers marriage seriously interferes with the permanency of the staff. 
Another factor affecting the work is the time required for "extra- 
curriculum" demands made upon the woman teacher, all of which 
are legitimate, but overtax strength and make inroads upon time 
needed for relaxation and study. Many principals find their days 
so filled with petty cares and duties that there is no leisure for 
constructive planning, supervising and inspiring younger teachers, . 
and the quiet living essential to the best work for others. It 
should be added, however, that members of the Commission visit- 
ing the girls' middle schools were impressed by the wisdom of 
some principals in delegating minor duties to others and reserving 
a margin of time for the larger demands. 

There is need of qualified Chinese women teachers in 
the middle schools. The demand for college trained Chinese 
women is largely in excess of the supply, and until more Chinese 
women are trained it will be necessary to depend upon foreign 
teachers. The departments in which this need of Chinese teach- 
ers is especially felt are science, including domestic science, the 
Chinese language and art, and physical education. There is also 
a demand for qualified Chinese women as matrons of the schools 
for girls. 

Securing the right type of Chinese men as teachers in 
a girls' school presents a problem. The salaries offered are too 
small to be an attraction; the position in a girls' school generally 
appeals less strongly to a man than a similar post in a school for 
boys; in order to satisfy the proprieties the man must not be too 
young, and enthusiasm, energy, and up-to-date training are gen- 
erally not found in the older men. The latter are also more 
often lacking in power of discipline and ordinarily do not require 
as high a standard of work from the girl student as from the boy. 

436. The problem of adequate equipment and living condi- 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 263 

Hons. — The first essential to a successful school is a strong staff, 
but a close second is adequate equipment. There is also need of 
more generous provision of homes and convenient and comfortable 
living conditions for unmarried women teachers, both Chinese and 
foreign. This need is especially to be noted in the case of country 
day schools. 

437. The problem of conservatism. — The education of girls 
has been hindered in the past by conservatism, both of Chinese and 
foreigners. The girls' schools have not shared fully in general 
funds, and as a result, have had their greatest development under 
the auspices of Women's Boards. Chinese conservatism is still 
to be reckoned with away from the coast cities. The Christian 
church ought to lead in generous readiness to pay for the educa- 
tion of girls as well as boys. The fact that more than half of the 
girls in Christian middle schools are from non-Christian homes 
while the total number is far less than the Christian homes alone 
should furnish, indicates that there is still need of converting 
Chinese Christians to a recognition of the fact that the education 
of girls is fundamental in the building up of the Christian church 
and the Christian community. 

438. One method of solving the above problems. — The prob- 
lems of inadequate staffing, insufficient equipment and limited re- 
sources, could be solved in some localities by union of the girls* 
middle schools or by close coordination, one school emphasizing 
one line of work, and another some other line. It seems like un- 
scientific management to maintain two or three schools in a com- 
munity, no one of them adequately staffed, sufficiently equipped, 
or with a large number of pupils. The Commission recommends 
careful study of such schools, testing them by the requirements of 
an up-to-date standard secondary school for girls, and when they 
fail to meet such requirements, the consideration of union or co- 
ordination with schools of other denominations. 

VI. The Part Which Women Will Play in the New China 

439. The part which women will play in the new China 
emphasizes the need of making adequate provision for the educa- 



264 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

tion of girls. The demand will be in many directions, but in none 
more insistent than in the schools. The call for women teachers 
in private and government, as well as in mission schools, both 
elementary and secondary, is far in excess of the supply. There 
is also a demand for highly trained Chinese women on the staffs 
of the Christian women's colleges, of government schools, such 
as the Higher Normal School for Women in Peking, and as deans 
of women in coeducational institutions. 

The opportunity for well-trained teachers of physical 
education should not be overlooked. In all grades of government, 
private, and mission schools, the importance of physical education 
is being recognized and there is a demand for Chinese women, 
with such training as that given by the Young Women's Christian 
Association school in Shanghai. This training frequently offers 
the only opportunity for Christian influence in government schools. 

440. The development of the Chinese home involves ques- 
tions of hygiene, sanitation, food values, child study, clothing, 
architecture, in short, home economics in its broadest interpretation. 
It calls for the training of teachers and leaders, that the individual 
home-maker may be reached ; of dietitians, matrons for schools 
and other institutions, women who must be not foreigners but 
Chinese, who understand the conditions and traditions, the cus- 
toms and prejudices of their own country, and to. this under- 
standing, add the training of the scientist. The training in domes- 
tic science should also include the home-makers, not professional 
women alone, but the great majority who if rightly trained can 
make the Chinese home a source of real strength to the com- 
munity and the nation. 

441. The first work entrusted to Chinese women by the mis- 
sionaries was religious. They were the Bible women, the evan- 
gelists among the women of China. There is still opportunity 
for the Bible woman, but in addition there is need of deaconesses, 
Bible teachers, pastor's assistants, leaders in religious education, 
evangelists. Christian Association secretaries. These posts re- 
quire education ; the old time partial preparation is not adequate for 
the wider field. 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 265 

442. The opportunity for women in social service is not likely 
to be less in China than in western countries. The changing in- 
dustrial conditions, the rise of the factory, the employment of 
women and children, the substitution of western types of manu- 
facture for the home crafts, with all the social problems involved, 
will lead to new occupations for Chinese women, such as personnel 
managers, forewomen or advisers. Secretaries for the Young 
Women's Christian Association and the Red Cross, and playground 
supervisors, are already needed ; there will be many other positions 
demanding trained women, as a social conscience is developed 
among the Chinese people. 

There should also be investigators of social conditions, 
women engaged in research, initiating and carrying forward a bet- 
ter understanding of social conditions, the reforms needed, and 
the way to accomplish them. The minimum wage, child labor, 
safety devices, protection of women workers, the working day, 
home work, insurance against accident, sickness, unemployment 
and old age, cooperative industry — these are a few of the many 
industrial and social problems which China must solve and in 
the solving will need the trained woman as well as the trained man. 

443. Among China's outstanding women are physicians, 
heads of hospitals, exerting a wide influence, but too few in num- 
ber. Doctors and trained nurses are in demand for hospitals, 
dispensaries, community service, schools, and for general prac- 
tice. A new field for qualified women is in the line of scientific 
research, e.g., biological and chemical investigation, and as tech- 
nicians in medicine. 

444. The unusual opportunity for Chinese women. — The 
fact that China is in the remaking gives to her women a special 
opportunity. Organized efforts to develop a social conscience, if 
wisely directed, will be of incalculable influence in shaping the 
future of the community and of the nation. Already there are 
organizations of Chinese women working along social lines. Such 
organizations will increase in number and will need trained lead- 
ership in order to make their best contribution to Chinese life. 
They also need the non-professional women, the voluntary service 



266 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

of those who are alive to social problems and ready to help in 
their solving. 



VII. Recommendations Concerning Vocational Education 

445. Because of the present trend in the world and, in par- 
ticular in China, the area of vocational and professional work 
shared by men and women is much larger than formerly, and 
larger than that which belongs to either men or women alone. 
It is important, therefore, that in making plans for training 
young people both men and women be considered. Too often in 
western countries an educational system has been planned entirely 
with men in mind, and, if it became evident that women also 
should be given opportunity to fit themselves for life service, they 
have been permitted to attach themselves to the system planned for 
men, without having special provision made for them, and with- 
out adaptation of the system to their special needs. This mis- 
take ought not to be repeated in China. Rather, the value of the 
unique contribution of women to the whole task to be accom- 
plished should be fully recognized, and, with a few obvious ex- 
ceptions, definite and adequate provision should be made for them 
in all plans for vocational and professional training. 

446. Educational work. 

a. Many of the city primary schools are now taught by 
Chinese women, and there is every prospect that the demand for 
women teachers will increase. As conditions of village life im- 
prove and prejudices diminish, we may anticipate more women 
teachers in the villages, enlarging the demand. Although most 
women will probably teach but a few years at most before mar- 
riage, there is an increasing number who teach after marriage, 
making a somewhat more permanent profession. To provide 
women to teach in the elementary schools, the Commission recom- 
mends union normal schools for girls, normal courses in middle 
schools, and short-course normal schools for abbreviated prepara- 
tion. See Chapter on Education of Teachers, Sections 225^. 

b. Many Chinese women will also be needed as teachers 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 267 

in junior and senior middle schools, Christian, government, and 
private. The Commission recommends that these women be 
trained in junior and senior colleges of education. 

c. Supervisors and "members of teacher-training faculties 
will be in demand, and many of these posts will probably be 
occupied by women. There are many school administrative posi- 
tions, also, that women fill best. The Commission recommends that 
the higher courses in school administration be open to men and 
women alike. 

d. The kindergarten field, as in the past, is solely in 
the charge of women, and present opportunities for training should 
be expanded. 

447. Literature. — The Commission recommends that the col- 
lege or university specializing in the training of writers plan from 
the outset to train women as well as men, since there is immediate 
need of Chinese women who can write for Chinese women and 
children. It also recommends that middle schools and colleges 
especially encourage ability to write in modern Chinese. 

448. Medicine. — Inasmuch as the expense of equipping and 
maintaining medical schools is so large, and the difficulties of 
staffing them so great, the Commission recommends that the 
schools established for men also admit women on equal terms, 
with special provision for living conditions and social life. See 
Chapter on Medical Education, Sections 334-339. It is recom- 
mended also that adequate provision be made for the training of 
women nurses and midwives. 

449. Religious work. — The Commission recommends that 
every type of religious education offered to men should be open 
to women, since the range and variety of work for which they are 
needed is as great as in the case of men. 

450. Social service. — All girls' schools should lay the founda- 
tion for social service by courses which not only hold up high 
ideals of citizenship and service, but are also definite and practical 
in the teaching concerning needs and the ways of meeting them. 
Service in the community should also be a part of every girl's 
school life. The Commission recommends that, in addition, women 



268 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

wishing to become expert social workers be given opportunity for 
such training in the college or university specializing in that train- 
ing- 

451. Business. — Although there will probably not be a large 
number of Chinese women in the business world for years to come, 
the fact that a few are already successfully holding responsible 
positions, indicates that at least a small number will wish to receive 
special training. Believing that it is important that the women 
who are the pioneers in this field should know something other than 
the old competitive business methods of the Occident, and have 
opportunity to study methods of conducting business in accordance 
with Christian principles and ideals, the Commission recommends 
that the Christian college specializing in the training of men for 
business life, should also admit women. 

452. Home-making. — The vocations especially adapted to 
women are few in comparison with those they share with men. 
Chief of them is that of home-making. All girls' schools, in a 
general way, seek to prepare their students to be good wives and 
mothers and to make happy homes. There should, however, be 
greater emphasis than at present on domestic science, and the 
other phases of household economics. The study of food values, 
the making of diets, the care of children, treatment of illnesses, 
are even more important in Chinese schools than in those of 
western countries, where there is much more general intelligence 
along these lines. The model home, in which girls live for a period 
of weeks assuming full charge of everything in connection with 
it, is a valuable adjunct of such courses. The Commission there- 
fore recommends that all girls' schools offer instruction along these 
fundamental lines, and that some specialize in them. 

453. The Young Women's Christian Association. — The 
urgent and increasing need of Chinese women as secretaries of the 
Young Women's Christian Association makes imperative the pro- 
vision of training for the preparation of young Chinese women 
for this work. 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 26g 

VIII. Education of Adult Women 

454. Provision for the education of adult women is important 
n a country where many women have had Httle or no education 
)efore marriage, but where enthusiasm for the education of 
vomen is growing, and where the part which women are expected 
o play is increasing. Many a man wishes his uneducated wife to 
eceive education, and many an uneducated woman cherishes ambi- 
ions to learn. It is generally not practicable for adult women to 
;nter the girls' schools, and other provision must be made for them. 



455. Types of education. 

a. Schools. — Schools planned, not for girls, but for 
jrown women, have proved useful. Some of these are boarding 
>chools, the women giving their entire time to school work. Others 
ire day schools, but claim most of the time of the women attending 
hem. Such schools meet a real need and the Commission recom- 
nends that they be continued and developed. 

b. Clubs and classes. — There are many women whose 
lome responsibilities make attendance at school impossible and 
provision should be made for them. Schools, churches, and the 
Y'oung Women's Christian Association are natural agencies for 
Dringing women together in classes to study along various lines. It 
las been found possible to give considerable education to mothers 
n connection with schools for young children, some kindergartens 
laving succeeded in enrolling the mothers in daily afternoon 
:lasses. Mothers' clubs and classes, held in connection with 
:hurches, have reached some women. The institutional churches 
ire giving special attention to classes for adults and some of them 
Dffer courses in a variety of subjects. The Young Women's Chris- 
tian Association is still young in China and fully organized educa- 
tional departments are so far established in few cities. This work 
is, however, developing rapidly and the Commission believes that 
the Association in the centres where it is established should take a 
large share in the extra-school education of women. See Sec- 



270 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

tions 413 b regarding the use of the school for the extra- school 
population of the community. 

c. Lectures and exhibits. — Another method of extra- 
school education for adult women is the impartation of knowledge 
through lectures. What has been done in health campaigns is an 
illustration of the possibilities of this method. The value of the 
exhibit is even greater in a country where few women can read 
sufficiently well to profit by books than in lands where the ability 
to read is almost universal. Such exhibits, for example, as are 
found in the Institute at Tsinan, showing right and wrong methods 
of sleeping, taking care of food, treating sickness, caring for 
children, teach vivid lessons to the thousands of Chinese women 
who visit the Institute, The exhibits showing the life and work 
of women of other countries must also do much to stretch the 
horizons and awaken the ambitions of Chinese women. The Com- 
mission believes that this is a valuable method of contributing to 
adult education. 

IX. Higher Education 

456. The three types of colleges. — The Commission recog- 
nizes a place in China for three different methods of educating men 
and women: (i) in separate schools; (2) in the same schools 
and the same classes: (3) in coordinate or affiliated schools, in 
which equipment such as libraries and laboratories may be used in 
common, the same staff may serve both schools, and certain 
courses in which the class is too small to be divided may be offered 
to men and women together, but in which there are separate classes 
in many subjects. 

457. Coeducation. — The Commission believes that there is no 
objection to providing for boys and girls together in the early 
years of school life. Recognizing the danger of a rapid change in 
the custom of a country, it seems preferable under present condi- 
tions in China to separate them in the middle school period, and 
either in distinct institutions, or in coordinated colleges, during the 
first two years of college work. On the other hand, in view of the 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 271 

great need of college educated Chinese women, the limited money 
and leadership available for Christian work of college grade in 
China, the great distances, the diversity of language, and the fact 
that the existence of an opportunity for higher education results in 
the determination to secure such education on the part of many 
students who would otherwise be content without it, the Com- 
mission recommends that, where there are women who cannot easily 
avail themselves of the opportunities for higher education offered 
in a woman's college, but might avail themselves of such oppor- 
tunities nearer home; and where the plan of coordinated colleges 
is impracticable, colleges for men be open to women also, on the 
coeducational basis. 

458. Social Relations of Men and Women. — The Commis- 
sion believes that whether men and women receive their college 
education in separate, coordinate, or coeducational colleges, they 
should be given ample opportunity for natural social relationships 
together. The college can ensure opportunities for such com- 
panionship under right conditions, and there can be no assurance 
that the conditions under which it is secured afterward will be 
right. Moreover, if the educated men and women of China are 
to think and work unitedly in facing their country's problems 
and meeting its needs, the college period is the ideal time to pre- 
pare them for work together in the future. The students of China 
to-day seem inclined to take as a matter of course that "all 
things are made new," and there is every reason to believe that 
it may be even easier in China, than in some other countries, 
for women to be full co-workers with men, provided they are 
prepared for this in the right way during the years of their 
education. 

X. Summary of Recommendations 

(i) Financial support. — A larger proportion of Board 

appropriations for the education of women. 

(2) The strengthening of middle schools. — 

(a) Increases in the teaching staffs sufficient to free one 

person for administration and supervision and to give teachers 



272 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

time for adequate preparation of their work and for personal in- 
fluence upon the students. 

(b) Greater emphasis upon vocational subjects, such as 
teacher training, domestic science, and also upon physical training. 

(c) Union or close coordination of schools in com- 
munities where there are two or more schools inadequately staffed 
and insufficiently equipped. 

(d) Limitation to a junior middle school where there 
are few students in the higher classes, and provision for those few 
in another school. 

(e) Closer cooperation, on the part of faculty and 
students, with private and government schools. 

(3) Higher education. — 

(a) The strengthening of existing colleges for women 
rather than the opening of new institutions. 

(b) In regions where there are women who cannot 
avail themselves of opportunities for higher education offered in 
a woman's college and where the plan of coordinated colleges is 
impracticable, the opening to women of colleges for men on the 
coeducational basis. 

(4) Vocational and Professional Training. — 

(a) Adequate provision for women in plans for voca- 
tional and professional training, in schools and colleges special- 
izing in such subjects as literature, medicine, religious education, 
social service, business. 

(b) Emphasis upon schools for teacher-training. 

(c) Teaching of domestic science in the schools in gen- 
eral, with specialization along this line in some schools. 

(d) Provision for training secretaries for the Young 
Women's Christian Association. 

(5) Education of adult women. — Increased emphasis 
upon the education of adult women, including schools, classes, 
clubs, lectures, and exhibits. 



CHAPTER XIII 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
I. Introduction 

459. Religious education as conceived in this Report is not 
identical with Christian education, but is a particular phase of it. 
It refers to direct efforts by instruction and training to inform 
the mind on the subject of religion and morals, to secure conversion 
and to develop character. Courses in algebra and Roman history 
may properly come within the scope of Christian education and 
rightly conducted may have a religious and moral value, but they 
would not fall within the scope of religious education as the term 
is here used, because their relation to religion and character build- 
ing is indirect rather than direct and immediate. 

460. But the more the subject is studied in the laboratory of 
experience, the more clear it becomes that religious attitude is not 
determined and moral character is not built up solely or perhaps 
chiefly by oral instruction or the printed page. The educative 
forces of life are varied, and this holds especially in the realm of 
morals and religion. Not only what the teacher teaches, but even 
more his character and personality — "What you are speaks so 
loud, I cannot hear what you say" — not only what enters in through 
ears and eyes, but' even more what goes out in the varied expres- 
sions of life, speech, work, play, make and shape character. 

This fact and the recognition of the great importance of 
the subject have led in recent years to earnest study of it in Chris- 
tian lands. But although much light has been thrown upon the 
subject of this study and real progress has been made, a fully 
satisfactory solution has not yet .been reached. 

273 



274 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

461. The subject has also received earnest attention in Chris- 
tian circles in China for a period of at least fifteen years, as the 
series of resolutions passed by various conferences since 1907 
clearly show. Even if the problem had been solved for America or 
England and the fundamental principles had been discovered and 
stated, conditions are so different in China that it would still re- 
quire original study. This Commission, charged with responsibility 
for study of the whole field of Christian education from kinder- 
garten to university, has not been able to give that measure of at- 
tention to the specific problems of Christian nurture in the home, 
church and school to which its importance would entitle it. The 
report on this matter must, therefore, be rather a statement of 
the field covered, a strong affirmation of our sense of the para- 
mount importance of the subject, and some suggestions respecting 
the dififerent divisions of it, than any attempt at a thorough-going 
solution of the problems. 

II. Character Building 

462. The fundamental purpose of Christian education is the 
development of Christian character. In almost every conference 
held by the Commission this was emphasized not only as a matter 
of great importance but as the distinctive aim of the Christian 
schools. To the degree in which character is the result of our 
work, Christian education succeeds; in proportion as the schools 
fall short of its attainment, the distinctive contribution is lost. The 
great importance of men of character in the future life of China, 
and their peculiar relation to the Christian schools, warrant sepa- 
rate discussion not only of the qualities of character itself, but of 
the educational means o.f achieving it. 

463. Christian character, meeting a new situation, determines 
the right attitude for a Christian to take and then follows this 
with corresponding conduct. It is not a matter of conduct alone. 
A man may act in a Christian manner as a result of habit, accident, 
or force of circumstances. This would not necessarily indicate^ 
character. Nor is it a matter of the determination of the right 
attitude alone. A man may have the highest Christian ideals and 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 275 

principles, and act very differently. Only when a man has de- 
veloped within himself a keen sensitivity to the call of an edu- 
cated conscience and has accustomed himself to act in accord 
with the dictates of that conscience, can he be trusted to respond to 
new and trying circumstances in a Christian manner. This is 
character. When he has achieved this he is to be relied upon. 
People seek his advice. Responsibilities are heaped upon him. 
His fellow men feel safe. He is neither a moral philosopher remote 
from life, nor an opportunist bending to the varying will of popu- 
lar opinion. In the deep rocks of Christian ethics, his character 
is an anchor holding fast against the tide of easy acquiescence to 
customary traditions. 

464. This certainty of unvarying right conduct in the face 
of difficult and unforeseen conditions, the keynote of character, 
implies (i) a knowledge of right and wrong, (2) a habit of right 
conduct, and (3) a combination of these, implying the ability to 
see right and wrong in new situations and the ability and habit of 
ordering conduct to comply with this new view. The first and 
second are themselves large educational tasks, but the third, so 
necessary to true character, is far more complex, being perplexing 
to analyze and extraordinarily difficult to accomplish. This per- 
plexity and difficulty of character building has led to confused 
thinking, yielding such a statement as "you cannot train character," 
which has done much harm. Educators are encouraged to throw 
up their hands and hope for the best. On the contrary, we hold 
that character is, in some of its important elements at least, a 
specific and definite thing, that it can be trained, that educators 
can aim at it, and that with more precise methods better results 
can be hoped for and accomplished. 

465. The first element of character, a knowledge of right and 
wrong, presents a teaching problem that is relatively simple. 
Despite the obvious differences in importance and size of the field 
it constitutes an educational problem similar to teaching the 
rules of health, formal English grammar, or the theory of plays 
and games. In proportion as the matter is correctly appreciated 
at first, has a satisfying result, and is either vivid or frequently 



276 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

repeated ; the material becomes a part of the knowledge of the 
student. This is the effect of the system of moral instruction in 
France, the result of the daily period in the Japanese schools, the 
old Chinese educational system in part, and formal Bible study and 
Sunday school work of the old-fashioned sort. The pupils learn 
what to do and what not to do. They are able to quote rules of 
conduct and to discuss honesty, purity, filial piety, and temper- 
ance. It should be noted that too often the result is merely a 
knowledge of moral conduct, not moral action ; nor should this 
be unexpected. It has been proved that a knowledge of English 
grammar and the abihty to speak or write English are not closely 
related. Physicians are sometimes unhygienic in their manner 
of life. No correspondence school offers a course in swimming. 
So a course in ethics, or moral instruction, or even Bible study 
of a formal sort, can not be expected of themselves to yield results 
greater than ideas about morality. Moral conduct as a result 
would be accidental rather than necessary. 

466. In true character building, ideas about morality are im- 
portant; and in the imparting of ideas, definite educational prin- 
ciples may be followed. There is a wealth of experience to draw 
upon. One thing should be taught at a time, to make a correct 
first impression. Pictures and charts, used so widely in Japan, 
assist in this. Justice on the part of the teacher, and strict attention 
to results, will make the child pleased with the right response, 
and dissatisfied with the wrong. Vivid illustration and application 
of principles taught, and visual instruction, serve to intensify the 
point; and careful repetition and drill will fix it. There is no 
reason why any skillful teacher should not be able to give all 
normal pupils as full and complete knowledge of right and wrong 
as the curriculum of the school contemplates. 

467. Moral conduct, also, is relatively easy to teach ; being 
an educational task similar to teaching golf, automobile driving, or 
conduct at the dinner table. Here the emphasis is not so much 
upon what a person knows as on how he acts. Many a person who 
has studied the etiquette book is uncomfortable in polite society. 
We learn to do by doing; the emphasis is not on knowledge but 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 277 

performance ; the result not the .abihty to tell something or pass 
an examination, but to act in a certain way. Furthermore, as a rule 
the performance excels in proportion as it is a matter of habit. 
The golf player who considers his elbows, wrists, feet and eyes at 
each drive, finds himself in the sand trap. In some types of society, 
forms of conduct were instilled in all the youth, notably in primi- 
tive society. "Theirs not to reason why, theirs not to make reply, 
theirs but to do or die." Conduct of certain types was forced upon 
the boy or girl by example, by practice, by all the educational 
forces of the tribe. Results were tested by the severe trials of 
the initiation ceremonies, the emphasis being on conduct alone, and 
not at all upon the ideas behind the conduct. 

468. In modern education there is also a wealth of experi- 
ence in conduct training. * It is a matter of habit formation, now 
so carefully analyzed by the psychologists ; depending upon a notice 
of the early trials and errors of the person, the prompt recognition 
of the right response when it comes, the rewarding of the right 
action and penalizing of the wrong, and strict effort, once a right 
response is fixed, forever to prevent a relapse. Right conduct, 
whether in small matters like golf, motoring, and manners, or in 
important matters like morals, can be taught directly, not as a by- 
product and there are ways of teaching that are right and ways 
that are wrong. 

It is here that association with men and women of char- 
acter has its greatest value. Students imitate not only the teachers 
but the older students, thus catching the spirit of the school. Right 
conduct is habituated, and the tendency to relapse is diminished, if 
right examples exclusively surround the learner. 

469. But neither moral ideas, nor correct moral habits, nor 
both together, afe certain to produce the moral trustworthiness that 
we call character. To both these must be added an ability to per- 
ceive the principle applicable to a new, previously unexperienced sit- 
uation, and the will to act in accordance with it. The moral actions 
of the primitive tribe extended only to their traditional environ- 
ment and the change of situation caused by the introduction of 
foreign ideas frequently brought about their moral downfall. 



278 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Staid citizens with high standards in their home surroundings be- 
came mightily changed when they entered the army, doffing not 
only the civiliangarb but the manners, customs, and social controls 
of home. For successful character building it is necessary to 
extend the attitude of moral inquiry from the original situations in 
which it is taught, to new situations over which the teacher has 
no control. 

470. Out of this necessity of preparing one to act rightly in 
new situations arises one of the great difficulties in the formation 
of character. In a formal way we may teach the ideas ; in a 
definite and prescribed way we may teach and habituate the con- 
duct. But the combination of the two requires so large an educa- 
tional situation, and so close approximation to life that it is almost 
too big to be confined within the walls of the classroom. Illustra- 
tions of success in relating moral ideas to conduct are found in 
the Boy Scout movement, the plays, games and school life of the 
English public schools, systems of student self-government and 
the entrusting of responsibility in many ways to immature students. 
The person interested in this phase of character building will do 
well to read the Scout Manual and watch the practical application 
of the Scout oath. He should read sections of "Tom Brown's 
School Days," and especially the analysis of English education in 
"The Brushwood Boy" by Kipling. Plays and games, student 
activities and government, social relations, provide for this train- 
ing. It should be noted, however, that only the opportunity is 
provided. Mere provision does not guarantee success. Fine 
teachers through their intimate contact with students can assist 
the process, often unconsciously, but far more often in a carefully 
planned way. 

It is also well, in this connection, to allow student consid- 
eration of breaches of discipline or variations from proper con- 
duct. If the teacher alone is the judge, one pupil is helped. If 
many pupils are allowed to judge, the educational value of the 
object lesson is extended. 

It often happens, however, that real life situations of 
this sort are difficult to provide in a school environment; teachers 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 279 

are too few, time too limited, the pupil's stay in school too short. 
The next best substitute is to give moral knowledge and habituate 
moral conduct as outlined above, making every effort to bridge the 
gap between the two. Thus instead of mere moral teachings, suc- 
cessful teachers make use of biography. Here the teaching extends 
beyond moral statement and lives in the life of some person in the 
past. The life of John Howard, or Abraham Lincoln, or St. Paul, 
or Florence Nightingale, yields not merely moral maxims ; it also 
shows the working of these in an environment very like our own. 
Another successful method is the maxim considered fully and then 
applied to a situation quite well understood by the student, such as 
is found in the pictured stories for Sunday-schools. These are 
excellent methods of giving moral ideas. They may possibly yield 
moral conduct ; and when they do, the result is far better than ideas 
taught at one time, and conduct at another. The danger is that 
the conduct will not follow ; and only by rich experiences, provided 
in school life and school influence outside in the community, may 
the teacher be certain that his purpose has been accomplished. 

471. Real character, however, will not be built until the 
student, knowing right and wrong, habitually right in conduct, and 
usually associating conduct with the idea behind it, has in addi- 
tion the facility of searching out right ideals in new situations and 
following them with corresponding conduct. This can never be 
certain of achievement; but it is certain that there will be far 
greater likelihood, if the pupils are practiced in meeting diffi- 
cult moral situations, without having everything prepared for 
them. 

At the beginning, it would be well to make use of the 
little lessons such as are found in the drawings of Mr. Espey of 
Shanghai. Here a moral situation is pictured to the student, and 
the query raised as to the right form of conduct to take. Other 
teachers raise a question in class, such as "What should you do 
if . . . ?" and discussion follows. There are many ways in which 
this method is used ; beginning in simple form and gradually be- 
coming more complex, the student is trained to note that the 
simplest moral principles have very wide application and differing 



28o CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

application in differing circumstances. Here also, the teacher 
can not be certain until he sees the result in conduct, and there 
must be great ingenuity used by teachers and principals in thrust- 
ing pupils into situations where such moral scrutiny and new 
application are needed. Careful study of the practice of many 
famous teachers shows that time and again they put tried boys and 
girls into difficult places, for the purpose of giving them a chance 
to test the powers that had been developed after long and hard 
effort. This is difficult to provide, but it is necessary if we would 
raise character building from a by-product to a particular end of 
the educational task. 

472. The thesis of this chapter is that true character is 
greater than mere moral knowledge or right conduct. It rests on 
the conscious following of right ideals, ideals often new in their 
particular application. The Christian school that consciously 
tries to build character must therefore include four objectives 
in its educational scheme : the giving of knowledge of right and 
wrong; the habituating of right conduct; the relating of ideas to 
conduct, and conduct to ideas ; and the education of conscience, 
or in other words accustoming a pupil to seek wider application 
of particular moral ideas, and following them out in conduct. 
Christian schools in China now provide all these elements, but not 
all with equal skill and success. Progress will depend upon study 
of the peculiar reasons for the success of certain schools, and the 
use of these methods elsewhere. 

473. In undertaking this important work Christian teachers 
have a great advantage in the fact that the New Testament unifies 
all its ethical and religious teaching in two inclusive comprehen- 
sive principles, viz., faith in God as the heavenly Father and 
regard for the welfare of others equally with one's own (in 
New Testament phraseology, love), and furnishes in the life and 
personality of Jesus a perfect exemplification of these principles. 
Thus it not only simplifies the problem by substituting for a long 
list of duties these two central principles, of which all specific 
commands are illustrations and to which they are subject, but by 
pointing the way to personal fellowship with God through Jesus 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 281 

Christ provides the dynamic for the control of conduct and the 
development of character. 

There is no phase of the work of the Christian educator 
in China which more insistently demands thought and attention 
than the task of making the ideals of Jesus as exemplified in his 
conduct so dominant in the life of the students of Christian 
schools that they will instinctively and habitually act in accord- 
ance with them in familiar and unfamiliar situations. To 
achieve this, bringing the matter down from the realm of ab- 
stract discussion to that of actual realization in character calls 
for the earnest thought and effort of the Christian teacher. 



III. Religions Education Through the Church Service 

474. The work of the churches in China as at present carried 
forward does not provide a large place for education. We rec- 
ognize at once that the organization of a church in China with a 
director of religious education giving all his effort to the task 
which essentially belongs to such a director, is at present nearly 
impossible. What educational effort there is must come largely 
from the preacher himself. 

From all that we can learn, the preaching from most of 
the pulpits of the churches in China has little educative value. 
Even in the stronger independent congregations the complaint is 
that the preacher does not give the people anything to think about. 
The sermons are for the most part hortatory. There seems to be 
little attempt to get hold of fresh presentation of the truth, or 
even to organize thought for effective statement. Discriminating 
listeners to Chinese: preaching say that the thought runs in a circle 
the same ideas 'being repeated week after week largely in the same 
general phrasing. 

475. The problem then is that which has so often confronted 
us in other phases of our study, that of better training for service 
in China. We urge upon all those in charge of the seilection of 
candidates for the Chinese ministry, the necessity of training in 
the effective presentation of thought in public speech. We urge 



282 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

upon theological schools and upon those directing the work of the 
preachers the emphasis upon a Biblical type of preaching. The 
simple telling of a Bible story before a congregation of Chinese 
■villagers, and Chinese are most adept at story telling, ought to be 
more interesting and effective than exhortation. This would re- 
quire on the part of the preacher constant study of the Bible, but 
such study ought not to be impossible with the resources of time 
at the command of the preacher. What China seems to need for 
the religious instruction of the church is an emphasis upon the 
expository type of preaching, by no means omitting emphasis on 
the essential aim of bringing hearers to that doing of the Divine 
Will which leads to knowledge of the Divine Truth. 

476. We wish to reenforce a point made in the Chapter on 
Agricultural Education, namely, that one of the Sunday services 
might well be reorganized to make it a sort of community dis- 
cussion. Let the theme for discussion be anything in which the 
community happens to be interested, better methods of farming if 
the community is rural. Under measurably skillful guidance the 
discussion can be given a worthy moral aim. We imply, of course, 
such skillful guidance, not an aimless conversation, though any 
elements introduced to make the meeting sociable and free will 
be well worth while. Since the meeting would be held in a church, 
the introduction of the religious element would be expected, but 
this element ought not to be so prominent as to discourage the 
member who wants to talk about a new kind of fertilizer. In 
other words, the church could and should be made a real com- 
munity center of educative power. Of course we realize that the 
minister who could effectively be a community leader is of the 
sort who could preach effectively. The problem here is to find the 
man. It all comes back to adequate training and support of the 
ministry. 

477. The children whom the Sunday-school in China desires 
to reach are usually divided into three distinct groups: (i) the 
children of non-Christian parents who know nothing of Chris- 
tianity; (2) the children of the church members; (3) the students 
in the Christian schools. The third group may overlap both others, 



REIJGIOUS EDUCATION 283 

but constitutes a distinct problem in itself, inasmuch as the stu- 
dents in Christian schools are usually receiving daily religious in- 
struction, and are by no means dependent upon the church for 
such teachings. 

The China Sunday School Journal classifies Sunday 
schools as follows : — 

( 1 ) The regular "church" Sunday-school, 

(2) The "student" Sunday-school, the membership of 
which is "composed of pupils and teachers regularly engaged in 
ordinary school work," and in which the attendance is usually 
non-voluntary. 

(3) The "neighborhood" Sunday-school, intended espe- 
cially for children of non-Christian families, which is usually con- 
ducted as a mission of some church and held either in a separate 
building or at a separate hour. 

(4) The "expository" Sunday-school which is an exposi- 
tory preaching service, led by preacher or Bible teacher. "In this 
form of Sunday-school there is little question and answer, and no 
attempt at grading or classification beyond that of men, women, 
and children, and possibly members and inquirers." 

(5) The "church-student" Sunday-school which is said 
to comprise the largest number of regular Sunday-schools in 
China. Two-thirds of the children are temporary students in the 
mission educational institution, the remainder being the church 
members, inquirers, and outsiders belonging to the local church 
community. 

478. It may be questioned whether the "church-student" Sun- 
day-school can possibly do effective work, with so heterogeneous a 
group, and whether it might not be well for the church to con- 
centrate its efforts on giving religious instruction to the children 
who are wholly dependent upon it for any Christian teaching, hold- 
ing the Christian schools responsible for giving such teaching to 
their pupils. It is surely far more important that a strong Sunday- 
school be built up for children from non-Christian families, where 
the only chance of learning Christianity is in such a school, than 
to give one more hour a week of religious instruction to children 



284 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

already receiving it daily in the Christian schools. It is not pos- 
sible to meet the needs of both these groups effectively in the same 
school. There is moreover real danger of turning children against 
religion if too much religious instruction is imposed upon them. 
For the older students, at least, it would be better to provide a 
channel of expression for the truths they have been learning in 
their schools throughout the week, than one more hour of religious 
teaching. Christian schools may well furnish many of the teach- 
ers for the church and neighborhood Sunday-schools, and groups 
of older students may, as is now the case in many schools, organize 
and conduct Sunday-schools in places where there are no churches. 

479. It is a question, too, whether the children of church 
members and those of non-Christians can be most effectively cared 
for in the same school. The difficulty increases as the children 
grow older. The teaching needed by children familiar from their 
birth with the Christian truth, is very different from that required 
by children to whom the gospel story is a wholly new one. On 
the whole it would seem better to care for the children of members 
of the church in a Sunday-school of their own; for the children 
of non-Christians in a school held at another hour or in a separate 
building; and to face frankly the question whether Sunday-school 
attendance should be expected of children in Christian schools 
who are receiving religious teaching throughout the week, until 
they are qualified to join the teaching staff of the Sunday-school. 

480. In China, even more than in other countries, the religious 
instruction of adults is one of the important tasks of the church. 
In dealing with this problem it must be remembered that many 
church members cannot read easily, that many of them have no 
great familiarity with Christian truth, since they are first genera- 
tion Christians, and that because China is a non-Christian country, 
many adults are not much more free for study and worship on 
Sunday than on other days. Giving religious education to adults 
is a far more difficult problem here than in Christian countries. 

Among the adults whom the Christian forces should be 
definitely planning to reach with religious education are the stu- 
dents in government and private schools. These schools are in 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 285 

most cases open to Christian influences. Even when it is not pos- 
sible to hold courses in reh'gious education within the schools them- 
selves, the students are usually free to attend them elsewhere. 
The Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian Associations 
have rightly been requested by the missions to make these students 
their special care, and are doing so. The fact that they are inter- 
denominational, that they are not churches, that they combine edu- 
cational, recreational, and social features with their religious work, 
that they are a natural medium for interschool relationships, and 
that they already have popularity and prestige with the government 
and private schools, makes them the natural leaders in coordinat- 
ing the work of the Christian forces for this important group. It 
is necessary, however, that they have the cooperation of the 
churches in their work. 



IV. Religious Education in Week Day Schools 

481. There can be no question that definite religious instruc- 
tion should be a part of the curriculum of every Christian school 
in China. Whether a school is conducted for the children of Chris- 
tians with the purpose of equipping them for life ; or for the chil- 
dren of non-Christians for the purpose of winning them to Chris- 
tianity; or for the children of non-Christians not primarily with 
a view to their conversion but looking to their larger equipment for 
life and the. gradual permeation of the non-Christian community 
with Christian ideas; or for both Christians and non-Christians 
with a view to the development of a strong Christian community; 
instruction in religion is essential to the most effective fulfilment 
of the purpose of each and every Christian school in China. Its 
inclusion in the work offered all students needs no apologies by 
schools which are avowedly Christian schools, and which have 
been established for the purpose of giving to young Chinese people 
the best possible equipment for life, the most important element 
of which is the achievement of high character. 

482. Whether or not all students should be required to take 



286 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

courses in religion is a question deserving careful thought. The 
answer to it may be a different one in the case of the primary 
school from that in the case of the college or even the middle school. 
On the one hand, it may be urged that if a school is known to be 
a Christian school, supported by Christian missions, and if parents 
and students understand that courses in religion are required, it 
is wholly reasonable to put among the required subjects those 
courses which will give students a knowledge of the religion which 
is our best gift to China. On the other hand, experience has some- 
times indicated that to require a student, against his will, to study 
a religion other than his own, is to create a defensive, even antag- 
onistic attitude, toward that religion. Moreover, it may well be 
that if the teacher of a course on religion does not have to compete 
with other courses, he may almost unconsciously allow himself to 
offer a less vital, vigorous, and attractive course, than he would 
give if students were not forced to take the work whether it was 
interestingly given or not. Perhaps, in most cases, a middle ground 
of requiring a few basal courses, but making the majority of them 
electives, will be the wisest plan. 

483. If, however, a school makes any courses in religion a part 
of its required work, it thereby puts itself under obligation to give 
as thorough, strong, and attractive courses in this subject as in 
any other subject. It should not be assumed that such work can 
be given by every Christian teacher in the school. Many earnest 
Christians have not had the opportunities for special study and 
training in religious education which are required for strong 
teaching in the subject. No Christian school should put its work 
in religious education into the hands of teachers not as well 
equipped to deal with their subject, as are those who are giving 
the courses in science. It may be expedient in all cases to have 
all the religious instruction given by a teacher who does this work 
only. But whether this be the case or not, the work in this field 
should be equal to the best. We fear this is not always the case, 
but that very often the courses on religion and the Bible are the 
poorest that are offered. 

484. It is sometimes urged that every teacher in a Chris- 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 287 

tian school covets the opportunity to teach at least one Bible 
class, and that to have a special faculty on religious education 
seems to suggest to the students that these members of the staff 
have a keener interest in religion than those who are teaching so- 
called secular subjects. Surely there are innumerable ways, other 
than the teaching of a curriculum Bible class, by which teachers 
may influence the spiritual lives of their students, and by which 
they may make unmistakably clear their supreme interest in the 
fundamental Christian purpose of the school. Religious educa- 
tion is a subject worthy of the best-trained teachers it is possible 
to secure. 

In order that every teacher responsible for giving in- 
struction in religious education may be equipped for this task, 
whether he be teaching in a lower primary grade, or on a uni- 
versity staff, all plans made for training teachers of every grade 
should include careful attention to the training in this funda- 
mentally important subject. 

485. The problem of the courses in religion in Christian 
schools in China is a complex one, which should receive thorough 
study. It requires a study not only of such matters as the 
religious psychology of children, of adolescents, and young adults ; 
of religious pedagogy; of the adaptation of different sections of 
the Bible and different aspects of its teaching to students of dif- 
ferent ages ; but also of the special problems created by the fact 
that these schools are in a non-Christian country, that the children 
in them are in constant contact with the influences of non-Chris- 
tian religions, their temples, teaching, worship, customs, and 
superstitions ; that some of the students are from Christian homes, 
where they have received Christian teaching from childhood ; 
while other students in the same schools come from non-Christian 
homes, and have known nothing whatever of Christianity. 

486. It may be laid down as a general rule that the courses 
in religion given to Chinese students should take account of the 
ethical teachings of the sages of China, which many of the stu- 
dents have been taught to revere, with which all are familiar, and 
which may be made stepping stones to fuller knowledge. Not less 



288 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

important is the application of the truths taught to the particular 
needs of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. 

The mapping out of such courses of study calls for the 
efiforts of specialists. There should be some permanent group of 
well equipped men and women giving their best thought to the 
problem of how Christianity may be most effectively taught in 
the schools of China, from the kindergarten to the university. 
The religious work departments of the Young Men's and the 
Young Women's Christian Associations have given much thought 
to the question of courses for students in religion, and although 
most of the texts they have published have been intended espe- 
cially for extra-curriculum classes, these organizations should be 
able to offer valuable help in the solution of the problem as ap- 
plied to Christian schools of all types. 

487. That there is need of such study is evident as one looks 
at the courses offered in religion in schools in China to-day. Many 
teachers have expressed a desire for help in planning courses along 
this line, realizing that there is often repetition in the work given, 
that the order in which courses are offered may or may not be 
logical or psychological, that the proportion between Old Testa- 
ment and New Testament is often a purely arbitrary one, and 
that the entire course has been planned without sufficient knowl- 
edge of the principles which should govern its planning. Some 
schools have had no other principle than that of following the 
order of the books of the Bible, beginning with Genesis. A 
school should not be expected to work out its own course. A 
group of experts should give thought to this most important mat- 
ter, and suggest schemes of study which may be adapted to the 
needs of individual schools. 

488. It goes without saying that although such subjects as 
comparative religion and biographies of Christian men and women 
have an important place in any scheme of religious education, the 
Bible should be the basis of most of the courses. Too much 
emphasis cannot be laid upon the importance of so teaching the 
Biblical courses that they shall stimulate the student mentally, 
morally, and spiritually. A Bible class which does not make the 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 289 

student do vigorous thinking, and does not add to his intellectual 
treasures, is not a good class. On the other hand, a Bible class 
which imparts information, but does not invigorate and strengthen 
the student's moral and religious life, is also a failure. 

A thoughtful Chinese woman, a third generation Chris- 
tian, and an earnest Christian worker, confessed that when she 
left middle school it was with the resolution never to open her 
Bible again, so weary was she of the uninteresting required Bible 
study which she had had throughout her school years. Her col- 
lege Bible study opened a new and wonderful storehouse of truth 
to her. But many a student does not go on to college. Every 
middle school, every primary school, should have such Bible teach- 
ing that so far from desiring never to open the Bible again, the 
students should finish the course with a keen sense of the value 
of the Bible for daily living and an appetite for further study. 

489. In addition to classroom instruction the service of 
worship is a valuable means of religious education. Here again the 
question of the compulsory attendance of the student is a per- 
plexing one. Some educators who believe that it is wholly justi- 
fiable to require students to attend classes of instruction about a 
religion other than their own, hesitate to require them to attend 
Christian services of worship. Whether school chapel service is 
compulsory or not, it should be made so vital, so attractive, so 
truly worshipful, that students will wish to attend it. 

Some schools lay emphasis on the creation and develop- 
ment of the mood of worship through the chapel service. It is 
held in a room built for the purpose, the very lines and coloring 
of which are "conducive to worship. The service is reverent and 
dignified, given wholly to the things of the spirit. Perhaps some 
of us do not fully appreciate this means of religious education, 
yet to many an impressionable student, the atmosphere and spirit 
of worship may teach more of Christianity than many a talk 
about it. 

490. A third means of religious education is participation 
of the students in the voluntary religious activities and organiza- 
tions of the school. The influence which is thus exercised can 



290 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

be exerted in no other way. The Young Men's and the Young 
Women's Christian Associations not only give students opportu- 
nity for expression of the Christian spirit and ideals, which they 
are learning in the school, but also for sharing in the fellowship 
and service of these voluntary Christian organizations, itself one 
of the most effective methods of learning about Christianity. It is 
through these organizations also that students come into natural 
fellowship with the members of the Associations in other schools. 
Such interschool Christian fellowship in service undertaken to- 
gether, in summer conferences and the like, can mean no less in 
China than it has meant for years to students in Great Britain 
and America. 

V. Religious Education in the Home ^ 

49n. The home in China is still an uncultivated field for 
Christian religious education. According to the report of the 
China Continuation Committee, published in 1917, after a study 
of the Wu-Han District on the subject of daily worship in the 
homes of church members, two-thirds of the church members 
live in homes where the influence is predominantly non-Christian, 
and approximately only twenty-two per cent of Christians are 
living in homes which have daily prayer. When it is considered 
that only one in a thousand of the population of China is Christian, 
it is clear that if China is to be Christianized the large number of 
non-Christian homes, as well as those that are Christian, present 
large opportunities for service and work. 

492. Religious education in the non-Christian homes. — This 
line of work has been and still is being carried on to some extent 
by certain evangelistic agencies. Students of different schools 
often give time, aside from their academic work, to the visitation 
of their neighborhood homes, teaching, helping and making friends. 
The purpose is that, in some way or other, Christianity may be 
introduced into these homes. There are those who are hired by 
churches and schools for this special line of work, and they are 

^ This section was prepared by a Chinese educator. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 291 

known as "Bible Women." These workers are often equipped 
only with primary education and a limited knowledge of the Bible. 
They are sent out day by day to visit homes in country and city. 
Sometimes a Bible woman is accompanied by a foreigner as her 
supervisor, advisor or helper. They usually undertake direct 
evangelistic work, preaching, singing or teaching. Through these 
workers women and children in many families are taught to read 
simple religious books, to sing a few songs, to accept the Christian 
faith, and are even led to join the church. 

The place of these Bible women should be made much more 
dignified and effective. Their education should be above the higher 
primary school and should include good courses in the Bible and 
training for social service. They should be acquainted with the 
family conditions of their environment, the place of women and 
children in society, the different kinds of philanthropic work, and 
their own responsibility for the uplift of those for whom they 
work. The complicated system of the Chinese family, where three 
or four generations live in the same house ; where polygamy is 
still in practice; where economic conditions are unfavorable to 
many ; where illiteracy still prevails ; and where the place of woman 
in many homes is still lower than that of man, produces many 
unhappy homes and broken hearts. If religious education could 
be introduced into such families through applied Christian service 
of different kinds, the results of the work would, no doubt, be a 
hundredfold. For the blind to lead the blind is impracticable. But 
a religious leader like this should not only be able to see, but also 
to see with clear-sightedness, and should be equipped with a good 
and sound education and inspired with true love and sympathy 
for her sisters in the home. 

493. Religious education in the Christian homes. — Very little 
has been done in China to stimulate and direct parents to the reali- 
zation of their high duties in respect to the moral and religious 
development of the family. According ,to the China Continuation 
Committee report, the reasons given by Christian families for the 
non-observance of family Vv'orship are: (i) inability to read; 
(2) frequent absence from home of the only one able to lead 



292 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

prayers; (3) family too busy; (4) opposition from non-Christian 
element in the family; (5) general indiflference. A sixth reason 
ought to be included, which is that parents do not know that the 
duty of religious education of their children does not rest wholly 
with the Sunday-school or Christian school, but with themselves. 
The above reasons might also be given for the neglect of all 
phases of religious education in the home. It is true that many 
of the parents of Christian families are handicapped by the above 
causes, but, when they are well trained themselves and are real, 
earnest Christians, the problem of time and opposition from non- 
Christians will become small matters. The adequate training of 
parents in their religious duties in the home is very important. 
Unless the parents of Christian families are true and earnest 
Christians themselves, unless they are educated, and unless they 
realize that the home, where their duties are, must be both educa- 
tional and religious, they will not be able to bring up properly- 
trained Christian children. 

Christian homes provide the best ground for effective 
religious and moral education. The home is the place where the 
religious and moral ideas of the child grow and find expression. 
A child of a certain Christian Chinese family was known to dislike 
Heaven because whenever a friend or relative went there her 
mother wept. Another child, whose mother had made him a 
promise of a gift, was known to pray that God might prevent his 
mother from telling a lie. Children of China, like those of other 
nations, like to ask questions, especially along the lines of religion, 
which they do not fully understand. How are our Christian 
parents meeting these demands? What kind of education must 
they receive so as to be prepared for the training of their children? 
The parents of the Christian home must realize the harm of 
uneducated affections. Their punishments and rewards must be 
timely and reasonable. As judges in the quarrels between their 
children and those of their neighbors, they must be perfectly 
square ; they must realize that it is harmful to teach their children 
to punish the floor after a fall. They must know how to love their 
children in the way that God loves mankind. 



■religious education 293 

494. The Chinese idea of family relationship and social obli- 
gations should help children to understand the idea of the larger 
world family, the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, 
and their obligations toward them. Filial piety, reverence for the 
elder persons, love, loyalty, propriety, self-denial, and the different 
social relationships, which are taught so much by the sages of 
China, ought to be given a double emphasis with the world-family 
in view. The reverence for God should be given expression in all 
kinds of worship like regular family prayer, church attendance, 
the saying of grace at meals, and individual prayer. All worship 
must be spontaneous, a natural portion of family life and program, 
and something to look forward to. If family worship is forced 
and unintelligently led there is great danger. 

495. Festival days are looked forward to by children with 
great interest. Parents ought to take this opportunity to convey 
to their children the significant religious meaning of each one of 
those that are observed. Christmas should not be adopted simply 
as a day for gifts. Easter should add to the family the meaning of 
a new life. New Year's should be celebrated with the aspiration 
and blessing from above. A few of the Chinese festivals may be 
observed to the advantage of children. The full moon, the winter 
festivals, and the like, not only add to the enjoyment of the home* 
but also contain meanings of thanksgiving and gratitude. Lessons 
should be taught from the observance of each of those that are 
observed. 

After all the good example of the parents is the most im- 
portant factor jn religious education in the home. Parents cannot 
expect children to live peacefully unless they are at peace them- 
selves. Children cannot be expected to deal fairly and truthfully 
with those around them unless the parents should behave likewise. 
As far as the parents are Christians, so will their children be. 

496. A Christian atmosphere should prevail in the Christian 
home. The Christian spirit cannot be taught but must be caught. 
To live Christianity is the most important method of religious 
education, especially in the home. Children should acquire the 
habit of treating animals, the weak, the sick, the younger, and the 



294 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

servants of the home kindly and sympathetically. They must 
learn to look upon housework, or any other kind of work, not as 
drudgery, but as pleasure. They must remember that the good is 
always better than the bad, and that living Christ-like lives wins 
the love of God and their fellowmen. 

497. The church, the Young Women's Christian Association, 
the theological seminaries, the Bible training schools and the week- 
day Christian schools are asked to pay special attention to the ques- 
tion of religious education in the home. 

The theological seminaries should teach the ministers 
and preachers to realize that their responsibility does not end with 
the pulpit; neither can it be limited to church affairs in general, 
but extends to the individuals in the homes. They should empha- 
size the importance of the knowledge of the Bible and of familv 
worship and Christian living among the Christian families to which 
they minister, and their own homes should be models to the families 
of their church members. In order to develop the religious atmos- 
phere, Bible classes, as far as possible, should be conducted in the 
homes and should aim to help the parents in influencing and train- 
ing their children. Mothers' meetings and lectures for the same 
purpose should be encouraged. 

The Bible students who are being prepared for the 
evangelization of the non-Christian homes must be highly trained 
intellectually, physically, spiritually and socially. Their salaries 
should be respectable and should enable them to dress and live 
decently, and to help others financially. 

The Christian schools are reminded that students of this 
generation have an immense opportunity to .influence their own 
homes and homes of their neighbors. They should be inspired with 
the spirit of sharing the duty of religious education in the homes. 

In conclusion, the Commission desires to reiterate the 
statement made at the beginning that the problems with which this 
chapter deals have as yet found no fully satisfactory solution either 
in China or in Christian lands. The discussion of the subject in this 
chapter is intended rather to emphasize the necessity of further 
study than to solve the problems raised. In the full recognition of 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 295 

this situation the Commission urges that definite organized effort 
be made by the Christian forces of China to find a solution of 
them for the Christian community in China. They should receive 
the serious attention of the proposed Institute of Educational 
Research. Sections 251-258. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE EDUCATION OF WRITERS 

498. The printed page has always been treated in China 
with a reverence nowhere else accorded it. The following quota- 
tion from a recent writer illustrates this traditional respect : "Not 
a scrap of paper that has written or printed on it even a single 
'character' is willingly allowed to be blown about carelessly or 
trampled underfoot. These precious bits, soiled and torn though 
they may be, are laboriously picked up by men or boys armed with 
tongs or pin-pointed sticks, who travel to and fro through the 
streets in search of them. The well-to-do hire proxies to per- 
form this meritorious work. The paper is carried to the public 
oven where it is burned, and the ashes afterwards thrown out in 
the river. The belief is millenniums old that heaven vouchsafes 
special blessings to those who show due regard for the sacred 
symbols of knowledge." 

It is not easy to overstate the influence of the printed 
page in China. The potential influence of books, magazines, and 
articles on the life of this great nation is probably beyond any- 
thing exerted by the printed page in western lands, where there 
is no such traditional reverence for it, and where the never-ceasing 
Niagara of newspapers, magazines and books tends to result in 
rather casual and desultory reading. 

499. Within the last few years, moreover, there has been 
a great intellectual awakening, or "New Thought Tide," which 
among other progressive reforms has made popular the language 
of common speech and has demonstrated its fitness for serving 
as a vehicle for philosophy, science, essays, poetry and all other 

296 



THE EDUCATION OF WRITERS 297 

forms of literary expression. Hundreds of quarterlies, monthlies 
and weeklies, as well as numerous books on all subjects, are be- 
ing issued under the urge of this new and amazingly popular 
literary revolution. Begun in university circles in Peking, it is 
sweeping through the entire student life of China and is making 
itself felt among the reading classes everywhere. 

It is particularly regrettable that at this time of ferment 
and plasticity the Christian forces are able to make so little use of 
so great an instrument for influencing thought and action. There 
is no means of estimating the influence which might be exerted 
in the formation of the future political, economic, social, moral, 
and spiritual life of China by literature shot through with the 
Christian spirit and Christian ideals. There is need, great need, 
of specifically Christian literature, but there is also need of news- 
papers, magazines, novels, poetry, essays, articles, literature of all 
types, written by men and women who know how to write so well 
that their writings appeal by their attractiveness and literary value, 
but who also write with the purpose of forming public opinion 
and uniting minds and purposes on behalf of all that is strongest 
and finest and most Christian. 

The report of the National Committee of the Young 
Women's Christian Association for 1921 contains an interesting 
paragraph. The statement made regarding women is probably a 
little more extreme than would be true of men, but not much more. 

"Generally speaking, the literature situation in China is 
critical and of central significance to a degree which could not 
obtain in a western country. The language is going through a 
tremendous upheaval, comparable only to what happened in Europe 
in the Middle Ages. The ability of girls and women in the field 
of writing is almost as undeveloped and unthought of as then ; 
we face an overwhelming need for modern Chinese publications 
and it is probably safe to say that there is not a woman in China 
who would as yet feel herself equipped to write well in the new 
form of expression." 

500. In view of this situation, few things seem more urgent 
than the development of a thoroughly strong school of literature 



298 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

in connection with some well equipped college or university, which 
shall train writers for all types of literature, its aim being to 
prepare thoroughly equipped writers and editors, in whose hands 
the printed page, be it in newspaper, text book, novel, magazine, 
current article or treatise, shall help to infuse all China's life with 
the Christian spirit and Christian ideals. Special attention should 
be given also to translating or adapting western material. The 
Commission recommends the establishment of such a school of 
literature in connection with Peking University. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN 
ASSOCIATIONS 

I. The General Scope and Purpose of Their Work 

501. The symbol of the Young IMen's Christian Association 
the world around is a red triangle, that of the Young Women's 
Christian Association a blue one. It is thus that the Christian 
Associations indicate their threefold programme of ministry to the 
physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs of young men and women. 
The missionary bodies which antedated them in China, believed 
that the Associations had a distinct contribution to make to the 
whole task of Christian education in China along each of these 
three lines, and they are in China to-day as a result of this belief, 
and in response to the request of the other missions. 

II. Physical and Health Education 

502. The training of physical directors. — The report of the 
Commission ernphasizes, in numerous places, the importance of 
physical training as a part of all education, and the value of play 
and recreation in the development of character. The Chapter on 
Physical and Health Education emphasizes the need of directors 
for physical education and recreation in school and community, and 
the importance of providing training for such work under Chris- 
tian auspices. We believe that the Christian Associations should 
consider, as one of their contributions to the whole task of Chris- 
tian education, the training of physical directors and recreation 
leaders, for both Christian and government schools ; and for 

299 



300 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

service in the community, through the Christian Associations or 
other agencies. We recommend the vigorous development of the 
work done in the Training School for Physical Directors carried 
on by the Young Women's Christian Association, and the exten- 
sion of training, as rapidly as possible, through short term courses 
and institutes. 

503. Health education. — We believe that the Christian As- 
sociations should make large contribution to the program of 
health education, sharing in the planning and promotion of public 
health campaigns, lectures, institutes, exhibits, and printed matter. 

III. General Education 

While the major responsibility for general education 
under Christian auspices rests with the schools and colleges of the 
Mission Boards, the Christian Associations have a distinct con- 
tribution to make in several fields. 

504. Adult education. — We recommend that the Christian 
Associations take a large share in the education of adults by such 
methods as : 

a. Providing continuation schools, such as night schools, 
schools in business training, and schools for the employed. 

b. Offering classes in such subjects as may be needed 
by men and women who find it impossible to attend school, but 
are able to join a single class. This type of work is especially 
needed by married women. 

c. Cooperation in the education of adults, and in the 
moulding of public opinion, by means of lectures, campaigns, 
exhibits, and the like. 

d. Cooperation in special efforts for the industrial classes. 

505. Supplementary educational work. — Where there are 
opportunities for educational work, which have not yet been un- 
dertaken by other organized Christian bodies, or by the govern- 
ment, the Associations may well pioneer along these lines. In 
many cases, such work will later be turned over to other Christian 
agencies. Among the educational needs which the Associations 



CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 301 

might attempt to meet, supplementing the work of other agencies, 
are: 

a. The offering of vocational guidance not only to Asso- 
ciation members, but to young people in general, especially to stu- 
dents in government schools, students preparing to study abroad, 
and students returning from abroad. 

b. The planning and provision of an educational pro- 
gram for unprivileged children, to whom circumstances have de- 
nied a reasonable opportunity for schooling. 

c. Experimentation and demonstration in methods for 
the education of the illiterate masses. 

d. The giving of guidance, direct or indirect, for the 
voluntary leisure time activities of adolescents. Such work 
would include the development of a program for the training of 
boys and girls in Christian citizenship ; the training of volunteer 
and employed leaders for work among adolescent girls and boys ; 
the organization of such work on a community-wide basis ; and 
the furthering, among the boys and girls of China, of work simi- 
lar to that done, in other countries, by the Boy Scouts, the Girl 
Reserves and other like organizations. 

506. A resource to Christian and non-Christian schools. — 

a. Because of the intensive study which they have made 
of problems common to many schools, such for example as those 
related to religious education and physical education, the Asso- 
ciations can often be of service to the Christian schools in the 
planning of curriculum courses in religious education, physical 
and health education, and other related subjects. They are in a 
position to make a contribution to the thinking and the activities 
of Christian educational associations, and we recommend that 
they be represented in such organizations and share in the promo- 
tion of their activities. 

b. Because of their relation to both Christian and non- 
Christian schools, the Associations can be of special help in the 
promotion of relationships between the two groups of schools. 
They are the natural agencies for the promotion of interschool 
activities such as athletic meets, debates, conferences, and the like. 



302 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

IV. Religious Education 

507. Work among the students of non-Christian schools. — 
When the missions invited the Christian Associations to cooper- 
ate with them in the Christian enterprise in China, it was stated 
that one of the fields of work for which they were most desired 
was that among the students of non-Christian schools. We 
heartily endorse the recommendation of the Christian Conference 
of 1913, urging that the Associations consider the promotion of 
religious work for the students of non-Christian schools to be 
one of their chief responsibilities. 

One of the most effective means of exerting Christian 
influence upon the students in non-Christian schools is through 
Christian hostels. The provision of safe, comfortable, and happy 
living conditions for students who are away from home, and 
are not provided for by school dormitories, meets a real and 
serious need of many men and women in private and govern- 
ment schools, and offers an opportunity for Christian influence 
comparable only to that of the Christian boarding school. We 
recommend that both Christian Associations count, among their 
responsibilities, the provision of such hostels for the students of 
non-Christian schools, as well as for other Chinese men and 
women away from home, 

508. Christian Associations in Christian schools. — The Asso- 
ciations should continue, as an important part of their share in 
the task of religious education, their cooperation with Christian 
schools in the work of local student Christian Associations ; in 
the development, through these Associations, of a national stu- 
dent Christian movement, and in the relating of this to the 
World's Student Christian Federation. 

509. Students conferences. — The student conferences, held 
under the auspices of the Christian Associations in other lands, 
have proved of such immeasurable service, that their value in 
China is beyond question. We heartily recommend that the two 
Christian Associations continue the holding of conferences for 
the students of both Christian and non-Christian schools. 



CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 303 

510. Production of literature. — The Associations have a val- 
uable contribution to make to the task of reHgious education in 
China, by the production of text books, outHne studies, periodicals 
and other literature. The needs of all groups to which the Asso- 
ciations seek to minister should be borne in mind in the produc- 
tion of this literature. 



CHAPTER XVI 

PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION 

511. The health of students in Christian schools. — The Com- 
mission has been painfully impressed by the large proportion 
of graduates and former students of Christian schools who have 
died soon after completing their education. Years have been 
given to preparing them for service among their people, but their 
work has been little more than begun before they have had to 
lay it down. Many others are doing their work under the handi- 
cap of frequent illness and lack of vitality. In too many cases 
this is due, in part at least, to the lack of proper attention to the 
health of the students on the part of school authorities. We 
would urge that every Christian school consider it of funda- 
mental importance to guard the health of its students in every 
way possible, to instruct them in the laws of health, and to de- 
velop in them the habits which will make for physical efficiency. 

Every student should be given a physical examination 
upon entering school, and special treatment, diet, and exercises 
should be provided for those who need them. Every student 
should also receive at least one physical examination a year dur- 
ing his stay in school. 

Careful attention should be given by every school to 
such matters as the ventilation of class and sleeping rooms, ade- 
quate cubic capacity of dormitories, the lighting of study rooms, the 
protection of students from cold and dampness, and the provision 
of correct diet and pure water. It is scarcely possible to over- 
emphasize the contribution to good health made by screens, or 
similar protection against flies and mosquitoes, sanitary toilets, 

304 



PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION 305 

clean, hard floors, dry roads and paths, and the healthfulness of 
the school environs in general. The Council on Health Educa- 
tion, with headquarters at Shanghai, is equipped to give expert 
advice on all such matters as these, and should be a valuable re- 
source to all schools. 

Too great emphasis can scarcely be laid upon the im- 
portance of constant attention to the health of each student, car- 
ing for minor ailments before they become serious, giving vac- 
cination and inoculation when needed, isolating those suffering 
from infectious or contagious diseases, and discovering such ob- 
stacles to health as adenoids, diseased tonsils, and the like. It is 
imperative that a physician be quickly available for every school ; 
and large schools should have a resident nurse, who is responsible 
not only for caring for the sick but also for discovering and re- 
porting cases of illness. Provision should be made for separating 
those who are ill from other students, either in a separate build- 
ing or in separate, quiet rooms. 

512. Health education. — The curriculum of every Christian 
school should provide a strong program of health education. This 
should include study of such subjects as personal and public 
hygiene, health habits, perils to health, common diseases, and 
their treatment, first aid, the principles of sanitation, and a cer- 
tain amount of sex hygiene. See Chapter on Secondary Edu- 
cation. Instruction along these lines should be placed early in the 
course, and every student be required to take it, however short 
his stay in the school. It is our judgment that such work should, 
if possible, be. given in connection with the work of the depart- 
ment of physical education. 

The missionary physician should consider it one of his 
important responsibilities and privileges to cooperate with the 
schools in planning and carrying out a strong program of health 
education. The Council on Health Education will also be a most 
valuable adviser, and should be looked to for suggestions in re- 
gard to courses, text books, and the like. 

Every student in a Christian school should be prepared 
to give the most effective possible service in the community to 



3o6 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

which he goes upon leaving school. In view of the almost uni- 
versal ignorance in China regarding even the simplest laws of sani- 
tation, hygiene and health, every Christian school should plan 
definitely to train its students to give education along these lines. 
Some schools are teaching students to make simple but vivid health 
posters and charts, to prepare easily understood speeches on 
health subjects, and to talk with individuals on such subjects as 
the dangers of flies, the value of fresh air, and the care of chil- 
dren. We recommend that this be a part of the preparation for 
life of every student in China. Christian schools should assuredly 
cooperate in all public health campaigns ; and, when practicable, 
should be centers of health education for the community as well 
as for their students. 

513. Physical education and recreation. — The importance to 
health of physical education, recreation, and out-door life is too 
well known to need argument. Their importance from the point 
of view of the development of character may, perhaps, be less 
generally recognized, but is no less great. They are, moreover, 
among the most effective means of promoting a natural and 
friendly relationship between students and faculty members, and 
also furnish a natural point of contact between the students of 
different schools. Athletic contests and meets have proved among 
the most successful means of bringing together the student bodies 
of Christian and government schools. In view of all these things 
we believe that every school should include, among its faculty 
members, a physical director of thorough training and high char- 
acter. It is preferable to have this work done by Chinese, and we 
urge that the Christian schools for girls avail themselves of the 
excellent work done in the training of Chinese young women for 
these positions by the Young Women's Christian Association. 

514. Christian leadership in physical and health education. — 
The Christian forces in China, especially the Young Men's and 
Young Women's Christian Associations, have thus far led in the 
promotion of physical and health education, recreation and ath- 
letics. They have organized contests and meets, have set high 
standards, and have done much for the promotion of inter school 



PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION 307 

and interracial relationships. Referring to this, one who is in 
close touch with the situation writes: 



"Such a result calls for more than casual thought, especially 
when upon further investigation it is ascertained that this position of 
Christian leadership is seriously threatened. One finds, for instance, that 
(i) taking the schools of China as a whole, the non-Christian schools 
(government) are giving more attention to this work than the Christian 
schools, not that the mission schools are doing less than formerly, but 
that the government schools have come on so fast that they have passed 
the mission schools in their attention to this part of their educational 
program. (2) The percentage of outstanding Chinese athletes is increas- 
ingly non-Christian. China's ideal of physical man is changing from that 
of the Confucian scholar to the athletic hero, and it is very important that 
that hero be a Christian athlete, with those rugged traits of character that 
command attention, win approval, and demand emulation. Hence, it 
behooves the Christian forces in China to produce this type of hero. 
(3) But perhaps the most serious aspect of the situation is that the 
Christian forces in China are (with one exception, the Young Women's 
Christian Association) failing to produce the well-trained Chinese leader- 
ship that this movement demands. Spasmodic attempts at training have 
from time to time been made, both with short term courses, and once 
with a full two years' course, but the former have certainly been inade- 
quate, while the latter has lapsed, for the past two years, with apparent 
small chance of reopening in the immediate future. Hence, we find our- 
selves in the following situation, that, of the dozen or more physical 
training institutions in China, that of the Young Women's Christian 
Association is the only one conducted by a Christian organization." 

In prder to supply the demand for directors of physical 
training and health education in Christian schools; to take ad- 
vantage of the great opportunity for Christian service and influ- 
ence, which lies in the same demand in government schools; and 
to maintain in some degree the leadership in such matters, the 
Christian forces must have schools of good capacity and excellent 
staff for the training of these directors. 

The Commission recommends that the missions consider 
this type of education to be one of the special fields of the Young 
Women's Christian Association and the Young Men's Christian 
Association, and hopes that these organizations will accept this 



3o8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

task as one part of their share in the whole Christian educational 
enterprise. It is hoped that the excellent work of the Young 
Women's Christian Association already accomplished along this 
line will be continued and expanded, and that the Young Men's 
Christian Association will undertake a school of similar grade and 
character for men. A course of two years above a good middle 
school course should be sufficient, but students of more than that 
preparation ought to be especially welcomed. 

If there are schools which are quite unable to employ 
a special physical and health education director, some of the 
teachers of other subjects should receive special instruction along 
these lines. This can be accomplished at small expense by sum- 
mer courses offered at several centers. The Christian educational 
forces should feel the burden of this, but the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association 
should take the leadership in promoting and organizing such 
courses. This should be done as early as possible. The Christian 
Associations should be able not only to count upon the support 
of all the Christian schools and colleges in the area served by 
these courses, but should also look to them for cooperation in the 
furnishing of teachers and equipment. 



CHAPTER XVII 
SCHOOLS FOR THE PHYSICALLY DEFECTIVE 

515. Recognition is given, in other parts of this Report, to 
the existence of a place in the total Christian effort for activities 
which originate from a desire to help those in need, without 
thought of any direct benefit to the Christian community. In 
the field of education Christian philanthropy in China has mainly 
expressed itself in the form of medical schools, orphanages, and 
schools for the blind, and for deaf mutes. 

516. Orphanages. — The personal investigations of the Com- 
mission did not include many orphanages, and no adequate survey 
of the subject has been found. The statistics of the China Con- 
tinuation Committee for 1920 report twenty-five institutions with 
1733 children. Probably most of these children are from out- 
side the Chnstian community, for orphaned Christian children are 
now usually adopted by other families or placed in Christian 
boarding schools. The Roman Catholic Church puts much of its 
educational effort into the maintenance of its orphanages, which 
care for nearly 20,000 children. The needs of orphans should 
make a strong appeal to Chinese sympathy, and the larger exten- 
sion of this work should be left to the initiative of the Christian 
community, with such sympathetic assistance as can be secured 
from other Chinese sources or from abroad. 

517. Schools for the blind. — The case of the blind in China 
has been a pitiable one. Beggary and shame have been their lot. 
No more Christlike work has been done for Chinese society 
than the establishment of a small number of schools where blind 
children have been given a safe home, and a useful education. 
The Survey volume reports twenty-nine schools with 784 stu- 
dents, of whom 257 are male and 527 female. Of the 121 grad- 

309 



310 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

uates reported, eighty-seven are fully self-supporting, and nine- 
teen partially self-supporting. 

In view of the estimate of one million blind in China, 
it is apparent that any adequate provision for their education must 
be undertaken by the government. On the other hand the Chris- 
tian forces should continue to maintain such schools. The need 
is so vast, and the suffering so great, that Christian education 
cannot be content to have no share in relieving them. Further- 
more, Christian schools for the blind may do much to forward the 
ultimate development of a national program of education for the 
blind. Their very existence stimulates the establishment of similar 
private and government schools. Moreover, the Christian schools 
may make a valuable contribution to such schools by training 
teachers in a special normal school for the blind, working out 
courses of study, especially along industrial lines, and providing 
more literature in the Union Braille already adopted by the Bible 
Societies. A full treatment of this subject is found in the Survey 
Volume of the Continuation Committee (pp. 365-367). The sup- 
port and conduct of these schools should, where possible, be by the 
Chinese Christian community. 

518. ScJwols for deaf mutes. — The Commission knows of but 
five schools where training is given to deaf mutes. This work, 
while requiring its own methods and special classes, does not neces- 
sarily involve separate institutions. The experiment has been tried 
of putting deaf girls into a regular boarding school where they 
share dormitory life, recreation, and manual training with the 
other students. Class work is, however, conducted in a separate 
room by a specially trained teacher. Since the aim of the training 
given deaf mutes is to teach them to speak, and to read the lips 
of others, and thus to fit them for life in regular occupations, this 
method would seem the best possible. There is a place, however, 
for at least one school where the best methods of teaching the deaf 
are studied, and the results of that study made available for all 
who are sharing in such work. The Mills Memorial School at 
Chefoo is already, in a measure, performing this function apd has 
sent out teachers to other schools. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGN CHILDREN 

519. The missionaries in China are much more fortunate 
in one respect than their fellow workers in many other lands. 
They are not compelled by reason of climatic conditions to send 
their children home at an early age, but are able to have them 
under their own care and supervision for a much longer period. 

This does not mean that there are no problems connected 
with the residence of the missionary children in China. There 
is the ever present problem of their education. In most missions 
this means that at least one and frequently several of the mothers 
of the mission must devote a considerable portion of their time 
for a number of years to the education of the children of their 
own and other homes. That this is not entirely an evil is clearly 
evident. It means of course that the mission is for a time deprived 
of their service in direct missionary work. But the compensations 
cannot be overlooked. What more valuable service could any 
woman render the missionary cause than the nurture of these 
children of the mission? She has no small influence in deter- 
mining not only the future character of the children under her 
supervision, but also their future attitude toward the service to 
which their parents have given their lives. It has been abun- 
dantly proved that the best missionaries are the children of mis- 
sionaries. The women may begrudge the time which they are 
obliged to give to this educational process but it is doubtful 
whether they could render any greater service to the cause of 
missions. 

520. There are limitations to this process. The time comes 

311 



312 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

when the child must have an education of a different type from 
that which can be given in most mission stations. This time dates 
at least from the period when the child is ready for high school, 
and frequently from a much earlier day. This higher education 
can seldom be given in the mission compound but must be se- 
cured in a school with proper equipment and trained teachers. 
This makes necessary the establishment of schools for foreign chil- 
dren. How many of these schools should there be in China? 

Many parents would doubtless be glad if there could be 
a school at each mission station but that is, of course, impossible. 
In any city where there is a considerable number of foreign chil- 
dren it is a comparatively simple and inexpensive matter to main- 
tain a grade school for day pupils. It is when a high school educa- 
tion must be provided, or when boarding pupils must be cared for, 
that the process becomes complicated and expensive. The num- 
ber of schools of this type must be limited. 

521. The problem of union schools in which the missions 
might unite, is complicated by the different standards for admis- 
sion to English and American universities. In the grades there 
is no serious difficulty in providing for British and American 
children together, but when it comes to the higher work it has, 
in many cases, been found advisable to maintain separate schools 
for the two nationalities. In some schools, on the other hand, 
the difficulties have been successfully met. This problem ought 
to be studied with a view to its ultimate solution. 

522. At present there are boarding schools of the higher 
grade for English children at Weihaiwei, Shanghai, Hongkong, 
and Chefoo. The school at Chefoo provides for all the children 
of the China Inland Mission from all parts of the country. These 
four schools are probably all that ought to be maintained in view 
of the fact that English missionaries prefer to send their children 
home, as a rule, at a somewhat early age. 

523. For the American children there are two schools at 
Peking, one at Shanghai, and one at Kuling. Canton Christian 
College is maintaining a school for all western children, and the 
Canadian Methodist Mission is conducting a similar school at 



SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGN CHILDREN 313 

Chengtu. There has been a demand that the number of these 
schools should be considerably increased. We are convinced how- 
ever, that thrs number is quite as large as the missions and Boards 
are justified in conducting. To run a standard school such as the 
children of the missionaries are entitled to have is expensive. It 
is difficult both to finance and to staff it properly. 

It is unfortunate that it seems to be necessary to maintain 
two schools at Peking, One is located in the city and is patron- 
ized by missionaries and others who prefer to have their children 
in the home during this period. The other school is located at 
Tunghsien, some thirteen miles from the city in the compound 
of the American Board. This is largely a boarding school and 
serves the missionaries who have a strong and justifiable preference 
that, during this period, their children should not live in the heart 
of a city like Peking. This is a school of high standard and is 
serving its purpose well. Varying conditions apparently make 
the maintenance of both schools necessary, though in the interests 
of economy and efficiency it would be much better if they could 
be united. 

524. At Kuling there is a school which serves the missions 
of Central China, This is an ideal location. The climate is excel- 
lent, the surroundings are good, and Kuling has the distinct ad- 
vantage of being the summer home of large numbers of mission- 
aries, who are able to visualize for the other months of the year 
the life and activities of their children. This is an item of no 
small value in the life of the missionary. The school has been 
developed and is now largely supported by the American Epis- 
copal and the Northern Presbyterian Boards. Since it serves a 
much wider constituency than the children of the missionaries 
of these two Boards, it should have the support of other Boards 
at work in Central China, 

525. The school for West China is located at Chengtu, the 
center of the work of that section. The lack of steam communica- 
tion means long travelling for many children but much less than 
if they had to go down to Central China. This school was estab- 
lished, and is maintained, by the Canadian Methodists. They have 



314 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

rendered a great service to their fellow missionaries. The mis- 
sions are growing so large however, that the question must soon be 
faced whether new schools shall be opened by other missions in 
West China, or whether the missions shall unite in enlarging and 
supporting this present school. There may be room for difference 
of opinion on this point, but there is every advantage in union, in 
the high school at least. One large school, well housed and prop- 
erly staffed, will be vastly better than several schools of necessarily 
lower standards. We recommend that the other Boards working 
in the province of Szechwan, join forces with the Canadian Board 
in strengthening this school. Until railways link up Yunnan and 
Kweichow with Szechwan, this school cannot serve these provinces 
and children must be taught locally or sent to the coast. 

526. The largest school in China is located at Shanghai. 
This school has a strong stafif, and is under competent management. 
At present it is poorly housed, but a splendid tract of land has 
been secured, the money raised, and a fine set of buildings is 
about to be erected. When this plant is ready this will be a most 
attractive school for the children of missionaries. The new loca- 
tion is far enough away from the heart of the city to assure to 
children the protection from the temptations of a large city, which 
has been one of the objections of many parents to the school as at 
present housed. 

This is a school not only for the children of mission- 
aries but for the children of other Americans resident in East 
China. This is a distinct advantage, as the larger patronage as- 
sures a better school. This school will be largely self-supporting, 
but will continue to need some help from the Boards. The pres- 
ent policy of two rates of tuition, one for the children of business 
men and another for the children of missionaries, is a most un- 
fortunate one and ought not to be continued. It puts the children 
of the missionary at a distinct disadvantage. In order that this 
inequality may be obviated, an adequate endowment should be 
secured, or the Mission Boards should provide scholarships which 
may be applicable to the charges of the missionary children. 

527. Wherever possible the missionaries and other resident 



SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGN CHILDREN 315 

Americans should cooperate in the maintenance of one school. 
This works for democracy among the children, for a higher stan- 
dard of school, and helps to bridge that most unfortunate gap 
which frequently exists between the missionaries and other resi- 
dent Americans. 

We urge that the Boards continue, or increase their assist- 
ance in every case in which this is necessary in order to main- 
tain a school of the highest standard, that these children of the 
missions may be the better trained and the better prepared to re- 
turn without delay to the fields of their parents. 



PART IV 
SPECIAL PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 

THE PREPARATION OF THE MISSIONARY FOR 
• EDUCATIONAL WORK 

I. The Present Situation 

528. The China National Conference of Missionaries and 
Chinese Christian Leaders, held in 1913, declared : "We firmly 
believe that evangelistic and educational work are both included 
in our Great Commission, and that the success of evangelistic 
work largely depends on the efficiency of educational work." 

If this conviction is well founded, and we believe that 
it is, there a're few subjects of more importance than the prepara- 
tion of the missionaries to whom the task of Christian education 
in China is entrusted. The efficiency of educational work depends 
to a large degree upon the efficiency of the educational workers. 
Education is a science and only those who have mastered it are 
able through it to render the largest service. 

529. It is only recently, however, that the Boards have begun 
to appreciate the importance of requiring any special training on 
the part of those who are to be entrusted with their largest enter- 
prises in the Orient. Almost all male candidates are put through 
the same course of theological education and sent out to conduct 
great educational institutions. The Edinburgh Missionary Confer- 
ence in 1910 made an emphatic pronouncement upon this subject: 
"In view of the necessity of maintaining a high standard of effi- 

317 



3i8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ciency in all mission educational work and of the help needed by 
native teachers and students in the art of teaching, the Commission 
would urge upon all home Boards and Societies the importance of 
a sound educational training for all missionaries sent out from 
home lands to supervise or take part in such work." 

The situation has changed somewhat for the better since 
the Edinburgh Conference. Nevertheless we have found, as did 
the recent Commission to India, that nearly all educational work 
is still entrusted to men who have had only a theological educa- 
tion. The Commission visited one large mission which is con- 
ducting over one hundred and fifty schools, primary, secondary, 
theological, and found only one man who had had any training in 
the science of education. He has been on the field less than a 
year and is teaching in a middle school. We found another 
man trained and sent to the field as a teacher of systematic theol- 
ogy but placed by his bishop as a superintendent of a system of 
primary schools, a task for which, by his own complaint, he had 
no preparation or liking. Some Boards have made much" more 
decided progress than have others. Their example is worthy of 
imitation. 

530. The Boards are not entirely to blame in this matter 
for, as in the case cited above, the missions, often because they 
are hard pressed for men, transfer men from tasks for which they 
were trained to tasks for which they have no preparation. This has 
happened most frequently in the field of education. 

The process is too expensive to be continued. The 
churches at home have made and are making investments of 
millions of dollars in the educational plants and budgets of China 
and to entrust these great undertakings to men utterly unpre- 
pared for their task cannot be regarded as conservation of men 
or of money, to say the least. 

531. The missionaries themselves recognize the seriousness 
of the situation and have been calling loudly for men trained for 
definite tasks. They are asking that those who are sent out as 
their colleagues shall have a better preparation for their special 
tasks than they themselves received. As the American Board 



PREPARATION FOR EDUCATIONAL WORK 319 

of Missionary Preparation has pointed out, "There is a generally 
increasing recognition that, while there must be some all-round 
men who can be moved about freely, those who have had training 
for special positions are more needed than ever before and should 
be kept in them as long as possible." 

532. Despite the slow progress which government education 
has made in some directions, it cannot be denied that educational 
leadership is passing into the hands of the Chinese. The testing 
time for our schools is at hand. In fact it is already here. Young 
Chinese men and women are constantly coming back from England 
and America. Many of them have had the highest technical train- 
ing in education. They know what education is and they know 
how to apply educational standards and methods. Many of them 
are our friends and will be sympathetic. Others will be critical. 
But, whether their attitude be friendly or critical the testing is 
sure to come. In fact our schools are already in the crucible. 
We can have little hope that they will be able to stand the test 
unless they are directed by men and women who in ability and 
training are equal to those who are in charge of the government 
schools. For the sake, therefore, of our whole work we should 
bring to China as our educational representatives the best trained 
men and women. 



II. Recommendations 

The whole subject of missionary preparation is being 
studied constantly in England and America by groups of men 
and women who are thoroughly conversant with the situation. 
These Boards of Missionary Preparation have given special at- 
tention to the training of the educational missionary. We do 
not need, therefore, to discuss this matter at length, but we offer 
the following suggestions. 

533. The most important element in the preparation of the 
educational missionary is his spiritual equipment. We declare this 
unequivocally and without hesitation. The fact that he is to be 
a school teacher rather than a preacher does not in the slightest 



320 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

degree lessen the importance of his being a spiritually minded man. 
It is as important for the educator as for the evangelist that he 
have the mind of Christ and that his whole character reflect the 
spirit of his Great Teacher. He is to deal with young plastic 
minds, and unless he is himself a true Christian he will have little 
success in leading the children under his care into the tutorship 
of Christ. We place the first emphasis here. 

534. The candidate for educational service should, so far as 
possible, be selected for a definite piece of work, that he may pre- 
pare himself adequately for the task which he is to undertake. 
The policy of sending out a group of promising young people, 
to be allocated wherever the mission may happen to wish to place 
them at the time of their arrival, is subversive of the best inter- 
ests of the mission. Such a policy gives them no opportunity to 
specialize, nor to bring to their work the skill which it deserves. 
We realize that exigencies are constantly recurring on the mis- 
sion field, but we believe that with proper foresight on the part 
of the candidate departments, it should be possible for most of 
the candidates to know in advance, what their work is to be and 
to prepare definitely for that work. 

535. In selecting candidates for educational work the Boards 
should make careful investigation of the candidate's educational 
background, including his own education and his experience in 
educational work. The application blank should include questions 
which will elicit these facts. When the candidates make appli- 
cation early in their education, the Boards should advise with 
them as to the institutions which they are to attend, in order that 
they may be assured that their future missionaries will have a good 
education. It is not possible to secure thorough education in all 
schools and the Boards have a responsibility to themselves, to the 
work and to the candidates, to see that they are trained in strong 
institutions, 

536. The qualifications for educational missionaries should 
be passed upon by a committee of educational experts. The ordi- 
nary Board member .is not prepared to determine these questions. 
Every Board must have men and women at its command whose 



PREPARATION FOR EDUCATIONAL WORK 321 

judgment in such matters will be valuable and decisive. When- 
ever possible, full information regarding a candidate should be 
sent forward to the field before his appointment that the authori- 
ties of the school to which he is to be assigned may advise upon 
his fitness for the task. 

537. We desire to lay emphasis upon a fact of which the 
Boards are quite as well aware as we, yet which they are some- 
times tempted to forget, namely that the qualifications for educa- 
tionar workers in China must be quite as high as for workers in 
the same grades at home. There may be some fields where mis- 
sionaries of a less high standard may still be able to render a most 
valuable service. But this is not true in China. As we have al- 
ready pointed out, the educator in China will have to match him- 
self with minds as keen and well trained as are to be found any- 
where in the world. Only the strongest men and women will 
stand the test. Moreover, many of these educational positions, 
like similar positions at home, must be filled by specialists who 
have had adequate experience. Mission Boards do not always 
remember that, if we are to remain in the field at all, we must 
give an education fully equal to the best at home. 

538. All educational candidates should be graduates of good 
colleges, or at least of first class normal schools, according to the 
type of work to which they are to be assigned. Missionaries of 
less education cannot stand the test. It would be well if many 
educational missionaries could add to a regular college course 
a professional training in education, acquired in full or in part 
before the first term of service. In addition to this professional 
training, at least one year of successful experience of teaching at 
home would be a distinct advantage. It would be well if many 
of these candidates, especially the women, could have this expe- 
rience in boarding schools, as the institutions to which they are 
assigned will usually be of this type. 

539. We are aware of the difficulties which the Boards meet 
in finding young men and women who measure up to these stan- 
dards and ideals. We desire to suggest that the Boards might find 
it to their advantage to consult frequently the appointment bureaus 



322 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

of the good colleges. One of the most fruitful fields which is 
seldom searched, is that of the junior staff of the college faculties 
and the staff of the standard high school. Here are many promis- 
ing young people, who have already been tried out, and who could 
not fail to respond to the challenge of a task for which they are 
already prepared. We hope that more and more the Boards will 
pursue the policy of going after the men and women whom they 
want, rather than simply choosing from among the people who 
apply. We believe in the missionary call, but many of our best 
young people would hear it if a specific piece of work for which 
they were qualified was presented to them. 

540. It has been a time honored policy to regard all appoint- 
ments to the mission field as appointments for life, but in recent 
years some of the Boards have been sending out a few short term 
people to teach English in the higher schools. The success of this 
innovation suggests the desirability of making a further change 
in the policy of appointments. 

The appointees for educational work may be divided into 
four possible classes : ( i ) There will be a demand in a limited 
number of institutions, principally middle schools, for young men 
and women, recent graduates of college, to come to China as 
teachers of English for short terms of service, from three to five 
years. A professional training will not be necessary to success but 
would be desirable. The contribution of these people will not be 
primarily to the scholarship of the institution, but in their contacts 
with students in social, athletic, and other activities. (2) There 
will be an increasing demand for specialists in certain lines, mature 
men and women, who have already made their reputation, who 
will come to the field for limited or extended periods of service, 
to take charge of particular pieces of work. As a rule, such per- 
sons will not be expected to acquire the language. Neither of 
these two groups will make up any appreciable percentage of the 
total number of appointees. The majority will be in the two fol- 
lowing classes: (3) There is an opportunity, constantly enlarging, 
for young men and women who, having already taken their pro- 
fessional training and demonstrated their ability, will accept 



PREPARATION FOR EDUCATIONAL WORK 323 

permanent appointments on the college staffs in China. Some of 
these will have taken this course in preparation for missionary 
work, but, as we have indicated in the previous section, many of 
them are in college or high school faculties with no thought of mis- 
sionary service but capable of having their interest aroused. (4) 
The largest number will, however, consist of young people, se- 
lected from among college students or those who have just fin- 
ished their college courses. It is concerning these that we wish 
to suggest a new policy of appointment. We recommend that the 
appointment of many of these as educational missionaries be pro- 
visional for a period of four years. They will come to the field 
with the clear understanding that their permanent appointment is 
conditional upon their giving sufficient evidence during this first 
period that they are qualified for the special work for which they 
are sent. 

This would enable the Boards to avail themselves of 
some of our choicest young people who desire to enter the mis- 
sionary work but who, because of their ignorance of the whole 
undertaking, hesitate to volunteer for life without more informa- 
tion. Under this arrangement these appointees could sail upon 
graduation from college or after taking a part of their (post-) 
graduate work, postponing its completion until their first furlough. 

The first two years of this trial period would be given 
to acquiring the language. The third year should be given to 
teaching in some one of the stronger institutions under the personal 
supervision of a thoroughly trained man. The fourth year could 
be devoted to more independent work. If, after a period of four 
years, the candidate has proved his fitness for this special work, he 
should be sent home to complete his graduate work and fit himself 
for a life of service on the field. 

The adoption of this policy would avoid many a tragedy. 
It would demonstrate the ability of the candidate to acquire the 
language and would prove his adaptability to life in the Orient. 
It would introduce him to educational work under auspices most 
likely to assure his success. 

This does not mean that the Boards would send out ad- 



324 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

venturers or make these provisional appointments any less care- 
fully than they now make the permanent appointments. We be- 
lieve that such a policy, while it may seem to be revolutionary, 
would add greatly to the efficiency of the educational staffs. In 
the early days there were many reasons for the present policy 
which do not now obtain. The new conditions make possible a 
new policy which the Commission desires to commend. 

541. There is a growing tendency among educational, as 
well as other missionaries, to devote the furlough periods to 
(post-) graduate work in the best universities. This is a ten- 
dency which the Boards should encourage in every possible way. 
It must not be forgotten that the first concern of the mission- 
ary on furlough is the building up of his health and strength 
when these are below par. But this usually requires only a short 
portion of the period. It is the remainder which should be de- 
voted to study. Scholarships should be arranged and extra al- 
lowances provided when necessary to enable the returned mis- 
sionary to pursue this work at the most desirable point. The 
educational missionary should be as free as possible from depu- 
tation or field work. The churches ought not to require that the 
Boards demand more than a small portion of the valuable time 
of the missionary for interesting them in his work. Some mis- 
sionaries have a valuable service to render in acquainting the 
church at home with the situation abroad, but as a usual thing 
the time of the missionary will be much more profitably spent in 
preparing himself for a larger service on his own field, than in 
deputation work. 

542. There has been endless argument on the question 
whether every missionary should have a theological education. 
We shall not attempt to discuss this question further than to say 
that in our judgment it is a mistake to require this of every edu- 
cational missionary. The typical theological course will have ht- 
tle value in fitting him for an educational career. The candidate 
for educational work ought to spend his precious years of training 
in study that will prepare him directly for his task. On the 
other hand, we wish to point out that every missionary ought to 



PREPARATION FOR EDUCATIONAL WORK 325 

have a knowledge of the vital elements of Christianity. He does 
not need to be a specialist in Biblical exegesis, but he does need 
to be thoroughly acquainted with the message of the Scriptures, 
The knowledge which he acquired in the conventional Sunday- 
school will scarcely stand him in stead on the mission field. 

Further than this, the missionary needs to be acquainted 
with the philosophy of Christianity. He is going out to propa- 
gate a faith which is new to the people to whom he goes. He 
must know it himself. He will face brilliant young people who 
are reading and thinking on all the modern problems of religion, 
and he must be prepared to be their guide. For this reason we 
believe that it is to the distinct advantage of every educational 
missionary to have one year of carefully selected studies that will 
give him a grip on these subjects. If the work is properly mapped 
out, one year ought to suffice to give him the background which 
he needs. He may be able by a wise selection of his school to 
secure both his educational training and such acquaintance with 
the Christian message at the same time. 

543. A new policy in regard to the appointment of educa- 
tional missionaries will, we believe, add greatly to the efficiency 
of our union schools in China. It is often necessary now when 
a position in one of these schools becomes vacant, to apply to the 
mission whose turn it is to furnish another teacher, to supply this 
need. The mission is forced to select the man who is available, 
often without serious regard to his fitness for the task. That there 
are not more misfits is high testimony to the character of the 
men and women who are on the field. The union institution 
is still too frequently forced to accept the appointee of the mis- 
sion whether he is qualified or not. 

We believe that this policy should give way to another 
whereby the cooperating missions will make grants of money to 
the union schools which they are supporting and leave the re- 
sponsibility of selecting the teachers and determining the salaries 
to the authorities of the schools. This will leave the schools free 
to search for the men and women whom they need. The policy 
now in vogue has little to defend it. So long, however, as it 



326 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

is continued the qualifications of the person needed should be 
clearly stated from the field as fixed in the by-laws of the institu- 
tion, and they should be kept in mind by the appointing powers 
at home. 

544. A most important forward step has been taken in the 
preparation of the educational, as well as all other missionaries, 
by the development of the union language schools, at such points 
as Peking and Nanking. The old style method of acquiring the 
language by which each missionary was assigned to some Chinese 
scholar with whom he worked continuously for two years or more 
has given way to the more scientific methods worked out in these 
language schools. The gains have been beyond all measure. Not 
only is much time saved for the young missionary, but his work 
is done in the companionship of a large group of others who are 
pursuing the same task and in surroundings which make his intro- 
duction to a foreign land easy and comfortable. In the schools 
which we visited we found the highest pedagogical methods in use, 
and the classes were being carried forward in the most approved 
manner. The students were eager and enthusiastic about their 
work. We have seldom seen class- work of a higher grade than 
that conducted by the Chinese head teachers. 

Experience has already demonstrated that these schools 
should not be limited to the study of the language. This will 
always be their main function, but the curriculum should be so 
extended as*to enable the young missionary to become acquainted 
with the history, the social conditions, the religious life, and the 
present intellectual tendencies of the people to whom he is to min- 
ister. Rightly conducted, the language school can be of ines- 
timable value in preparing the missionary for his task. Such 
schools as these should have the hearty and enthusiastic support 
of the Boards at home. They should have adequate equipment in 
school buildings, apartments and dormitories, and they should have 
the best staffs of Chinese teachers which can be gathered. They 
are among the best investments which the missions can make. 
There should be an adequate number of these schools to meet the 
demands of the various great sections of China. 



PREPARATION FOR EDUCATIONAL WORK 327 

545. There is one important matter not directly related to 
the preparation of the educational missionary but clearly related 
to his enlistment which should have much more attention by the 
Boards. This is the provision made for the missionary after the 
completion of his service. If the efficiency of educational work 
is to be maintained, there will be a limit to the length of time 
which the educational missionary can serve. The present life 
tenure is not compatible with the best results. This means that 
the Boards must make adequate provision for the educational mis- 
sionary when his period of service terminates. This is a serious 
matter and ought to have the careful attention of the Boards. 
Adequate provision in this direction would materially assist the 
Boards in finding the right candidates for educational missions. 

In setting forth these suggestions for strengthening our 
force of educational missionaries, the Commission desires to bear 
testimony to the splendid work which these men and women, many 
of them without specific training for their tasks, are doing. We 
have been constantly impressed by the value of their service. We 
make these suggestions only in the hope that greater thought and 
care may assure an even higher grade of work in the testing days 
of Christian^educational work which are just ahead in China. 



r 



CHAPTER II 

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN CHRISTIAN 
EDUCATION 

546. In Part II. of this Report we have discussed some of 
the general principles which must govern the undertaking of edu- 
cation under Christian auspices in a land like China. In discussing 
the relations of various nationalities engaged in this task, we de- 
sire to call attention to three principles. 

a. The final goal of our efifort is the creation of a system 
of Christian education which shall be under the control of the 
Christian church in China, and genuinely national. 

b. All Mission Boards now maintaining schools in China, 
should make it perfectly clear that this is the ultimate purpose of 
their work. This will be revealed not only in the form of organ- 
ization adopted, but in the spirit animating the missionaries. 

c. It is essential that all suspicion be dispelled that the 
mission schools exist with any purpose to foster the commercial 
or political interests of any particular foreign countries. Nothing 
could be more fatal to the cause of Christian education in China 
than the existence of such a suspicion. This point is of special 
importance now in view of the increase of national trade rivalries 
and of the tendency to use education as a means of propaganda. 

547. The relation of the various nationalities in China to each 
other must be determined by the principles stated above governing 
the relations of them all to the Chinese. The fundamental question 
is, what contribution can each make to the unified Chinese educa- 
tional system which we hope to help to create. 

The process of coordination will be slow, and for some 
328 



INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 329 

time to come, there will be a distinct place for educational insti- 
tutions, partly financed and controlled by the missions of western 
Europe and America, so long as these are considered as parts of 
the general system of Christian education in China, and are or- 
ganized in relation thereto. The time has already come for the 
Mission Boards to give main consideration to the relationship of 
their schools in any particular region to the whole scheme of Chris- 
tian education in that region, rather than to the relationship of 
these schools to others which these missions maintain in other 
regions. This implies a considerable re-orientation of policy on 
the part of many Boards. 

These schools will naturally express in their organization 
and management the educational ideals and methods of the coun- 
tries to which the missions supporting them belong, and in so far 
as these are contributions to the general stock on which the Chin- 
ese Christian Church will ultimately draw, they will enrich the 
content of the educational system which will eventually be built up. 
548. This principle of cooperation is applicable to the rela- 
tions of all nationalities conducting mission schools in China, but 
it is particularly important at the present time to find the right 
application of it to the relationship of American and British 
schools. The difficulties of the present situation must be frankly 
faced. 

a. There are certain marked differences in educational 
methods and ideals. British teachers, taken as a whole, attach 
great importance to a system of tests and examinations applied 
at each stage from the primary school up to the university. They 
are willing to take the school record into account, but are not dis- 
posed to admit any one to a higher course, least of all to college, 
without tested qualifications. They believe that a graduation cer- 
tificate or degree should represent a definite standard of attain- 
ment. American teachers, on the other hand, favor more elastic 
methods of admission to college and endorse the system, quite 
foreign to British ideas, of "accrediting" certain schools, i. e., of 
allowing their graduates to enter college without special exam- 
ination. 



330 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

British teachers again, beheve in the gradual unfolding 
of the content of different subjects studied concurrently over a 
long term of years, whereas many American schools favor the 
"block" method, i. e., the system by which subjects are studied more 
or less intensively for limited periods and are then considered 
as finished, so far as the students are concerned. There thus tends 
to be a marked divergence of view as to the character of the 
curriculum. 

There are also considerable differences between the aver- 
age American and the average British standpoint in Chinese mis- 
sion schools on the subject of student management and control and 
in the attitude towards games. 

The Commission does not seek to minimize the reality of 
these and other differences between the two systems and realizes 
that the success of many union enterprises will largely depend on 
the willingness of each to learn from the other when the neces- 
sary adjustments have to be made. What is essential is that the 
distinctive merits of both systems should become effective contribu- 
tions to the Chinese system of Christian education: the British 
emphasis on thoroughness, on the value of general ideas, and in 
the development of individual personality ; the American fertility 
of experimentation, breadth and elasticity of treatment, and power 
of group organization. 

b. The differences are accentuated by the much greater 
financial resources of the American mission schools. The British 
schools have been greatly handicapped by lack of funds. This 
tends to make them reluctant to enter into union schemes, lest their 
contribution should be altogether submerged. 

549. A new factor has been recently introduced by the scheme 
of the British Chambers of Commerce for subsidizing recognized 
British secondary schools in China. Subject to their willingness 
to comply with certain regulations as to their curriculum and stan- 
dard, these schools are to receive grants-in-aid, primarily to 
strengthen the British staff" of each school. It is further contem- 
plated that later on scholarships, tenable at Hongkong or other 
British universities, will be established. It is expressly stated 



INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 33i 

that the missionary character of these schools will remain en- 
tirely unaffected. 

The Commission has carefully considered the bearing of 
this scheme on the prospects of Christian education in China and 
has tried to estimate it in relation to the principles defined above. 
The conclusions to which it has come may be thus stated : 

a. That, although among the motives for the scheme 
is probably a desire on the part of the British Chambers of Com- 
merce to counterbalance to some extent the considerable influence 
which America is obtaining in China by means of her far-flung 
system of schools, an influence which inevitably reacts favorably 
on her commerce, the movement indicates a genuine desire to help 
China by means of education and a strong belief that Britain has 
a distinct educational contribution to make. 

b. That inasmuch as the financial aid now offered can 
greatly strengthen the British schools and enable them to make 
a more effective contribution to the cause of Christian education in 
China, they are justified in accepting it on the express understand- 
ing (i) that they are not debarred thereby from entering into 
a federation scheme with American schools leading up to a 
union university; (2) that they are left completely unfettered as 
to their organization, policy, and teaching, both religious and 
secular. 

While the Commission is of the opinion that there is 
room at present for distinctively American and distinctively Brit- 
ish types of education in China, it cannot too strongly record its 
conviction that these must not be allowed to harden into stereo- 
typed and opposed systems incapable of assimilation, and that 
a policy should be formulated by which they will be gradually 
merged into a composite system, neither American nor British, 
but Chinese, which will incorporate what is best in both of them. 
The Commission believes that this merging process can be most 
easily effected by the federation of American and British middle 
schools within union university areas, so that while the individ- 
uality of the constituent schools is left intact, there may be a 
gradual interpenetration of the two systems. In the opinion of the 



332 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Commission the federal scheme adopted in West China indicates 
the best solution of the problem. 

550. In connection with the subject under discussion the 
Commission has inevitably been led to consider the relationship 
of Hongkong University to the Christian system of schools and 
colleges. It fully recognizes the value of a university which ofifers 
a high type of western education to Chinese students in immediate 
proximity to their own country, and which can exercise a con- 
siderable educational influence on China through its high stan- 
dard of teaching and organization. On all grounds it welcomes the 
prospect of close and friendly relations between this university 
and the Christian schools, and realizes that it can well meet the 
special needs of many graduates from these schools who can bene- 
fit from a distinctively western type of education. So conceived, 
it is conplementary to, and not competitive with, the Christian 
colleges of China. These exist to discharge functions which 
cannot be adequately performed and to satisfy needs which 
cannot be adequately met by any foreign university, however effi- 
cient. It is therefore assumed that the Christian middle schools, 
while taking full advantage of the opportunities which Hongkong 
ofifers for special students, will regard the Christian university of 
their own area as the normal objective of their college preparatory 
classes and as having the first claim on their loyalty. The Com- 
mission feels assured that neither the British missionary societies 
nor the authorities of Hongkong University would favor any pol- 
icy tending to detach British mission schools from a unified 
Chinese system of Christian education and to draw them into a 
separate Anglo-Chinese orbit. 



CHAPTER III 

THE CONSERVATION OF CHRISTIAN PERSON- 
ALITIES TO THE CHURCH 

551. One of the most serious problems now facing the Chris- 
tian church in China is the conservation to the church of those 
members who have been won to Christianity in the process of 
education or who, having first been won, have afterwards received 
an education. The church in all lands suffers to some extent the 
loss of such people, but the matter is, we are led to believe, more 
serious in China than in most other countries, both in the sense that 
it occurs in a proportionately larger number of cases, and in that 
the church being less thoroughly established than in countries 
where Christianity is older, it can even less afford to lose these 
potentially more valuable members of the community. 

There is no doubt that a considerable proportion of 
Chinese students returning from colleges in America are finally 
lost to the church in China. In some cases this loss is due to the 
disillusionment of the Chinese Christian by his experiences in 
America and by the contrasts between the ideals of Christianity 
and some phases of Occidental civilization. An industrial system 
founded on a fierce competition ; an economic or political imperial- 
ism which does not hesitate to use threats of force to further its 
ambition; a racial prejudice which looks with ill-concealed arro- 
gance on all races except the white : these too conspicuous features 
of American and European civilization can hardly fail to shock 
the Chinese student who goes abroad. Doubtless Christian teach- 
ers in China might do more than they are now doing to prepare the 
student departing from China for America or Europe for the inev- 

333 



L^ 



334 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

itable shock which will come when he meets the more glaring faults 
of western civilization. But the more important method of combat- 
ting the evil, short of a more thorough Christianization of Christian 
lands, is a larger effort on the part of the British and American 
churches to bring the Chinese students into contact with the nobler 
aspects of the life of their countries. 

The loss is not confined to the returned students, but is, 
perhaps, equally serious in respect to students educated in China. 
The graduate even of the middle school is disposed to complain 
that he does not get much from the preaching of the average 
Chinese pastor. His complaint is against both the form and the 
content of the message. The character of Jesus almost uniformly 
wins both respect and affection. His teaching both as to per- 
sonal morals and neighborly human relationships at once attracts 
attention and easily wins allegiance. The dynamic of Chris- 
tianity, in the minds of the Chinese, seems to be allegiance to 
the Master, and His teaching gives power to overcome the base 
and poor in one's own nature. Such allegiance also gives a moving 
incentive to social service and to the humanization of economic 
and political relationships. Unfortunately Christianity is not 
always so presented, and the church loses its hold on many who 
have been won by the school. 

552. Of this condition there are several recognizable causes : 

a. The church in China does not offer a program of at- 
tractive work to an active and alert layman of the younger gener- 
ation. The problem is a difficult one. The churches in China are 
now in the hands of the older laymen, so far as the laymen exercise 
control ; the older laymen who bore the burden and the heat of the 
earlier day, a day of no small hardship, as witness the Boxer up- 
rising. The control is conservative, and tends to alienate the active 
sympathy of the young men educated in the schools. There are, 
indeed, compensatory elements in the situation. Some of the 
laymen find outlets for their Christian interest in other than 
ecclesiastical forms of Christian effort, as the Young Men's 
Christian Association and other such institutions. If the church 
is inspiring men to work with such organizations it cannot be said 



CONSERVATION OF CHRISTIAN PERSONALITIES 335 

to be failing in its duty to the community. Yet the situation can 
never be satisfactory when the church loses to itself the energy 
and initiative of the younger and educated laymen and the trained 
women who come from the Christian schools. 

b. Still another cause of defection is found in the lack 
of a Christian public sentiment. The student, in allying himself 
with a Chinese church, does not have any large support in com- 
munity sentiment. It will not be wise for us to complain that 
there are not more members of heroic mould in the Chinese 
churches. The Boxer persecution showed the existence of an 
astonishingly large proportion of such heroes. If the support of 
public sentiment were withdrawn from the church at home we 
might be amazed at the large number of members who would 
forthwith fall by the way. The situation in China makes a strain 
upon the loyalty of church members of which we of the West 
know nothing. So simple a matter as a young man's removal from 
a place where he knows the church members to one where he is a 
stranger, may lead to his losing his grip on the church. Marriage, 
too, into a circle indifferent to Christian interests often leads to the 
same result. It hard for outsiders to realize the depth of spirit- 
ual and moral force required definitely to ally one's self with a 
Christian church in a non-Christian communnity. 

c. A further cause for loss which affects both returned 
students and those who have received all their education in China, 
is the disparity between salaries paid foreign workers in China 
and those paid Chinese workers. While this loss primarily affects 
the staffs of our Christian schools it often results in a loss to the 
Christian church as such. It is just to say that when Chinese 

"raise objection to this disparity they sometimes overlook some 
important considerations. The foreign worker is subject to certain 
financial disadvantages in coming to China which the Chinese may 
not appreciate. But it is not just to find fault with the Chinese 
worker for adopting a higher standard of living than that to which 
he was accustomed before he was educated. He could hardly 
have been truly educated without some such resulting elevation of 
standard. Nor can he be justly criticized for accepting a remu- 



l^ 



336 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

nerative position outside church institutions, especially when this 
offers not only larger income, but excellent opportunity of service 
to his country and the church. There should be revision of salary 
scales which will go as far as possible toward putting the remuner- 
ation of foreign workers and Chinese workers on an equitable 
basis, due account being taken of the difference in circumstances 
and standards of living. 

553. These conditions, serious as they are, have in them an 
element of encouragement. They are themselves the result of a 
rising standard of intelligence in the church due partly to the 
education of the children of the church and partly to the acqui- 
sition to Christianity of large numbers of young people during 
their student days. Yet the conditions call for serious thought and 
powerfully reinforce the argument presented in a previous chapter 
for a ministry with a much higher standard of education. Only 
by such a ministry can the educated and, therefore, especially 
valuable elements of the Christian community be effectively con- 
served to the service of Christianity. Pending the development 
of such a ministry we urge the church everywhere to employ all 
practicable methods for holding the educated members in close 
relation to itself. The mere notification to a church that a member 
of another church is coming within the range of its ministry would 
be of help. Younger members of the church are most likely to be 
aided through personal contacts. In theological and practical 
perplexities the friendships formed within the Christian group 
are the most powerful factors in holding the troubled life steady. 
While we recognize the prime responsibility of the church 
in China to exert its utmost effort to present a program which will 
hold the interest of its young people, we desire to express to the' 
Christian student body our strong hope that they will give their 
fullest allegiance and support to the church in this transition 
period. In all lands the church has been made by its laymen 
quite as much as by its ministers. If the church in China attains 
the strength and dignity which it ought, it will be only as groups 
of strong men and women, such as the large bodies of Christian 
students, give it their loyal and whole-hearted support. With the 



CONSERVATION OF CHRISTIAN PERSONALITIES 337 

students, those trained both at home and abroad, rests largely the 
destiny of the Christian church in their land. The most powerful 
factor in making western lands as Christian as they are has been 
the Christian church. China needs such a church in this day. 
Even, therefore, if the church of the present does not minister to 
them to the degree which they desire, yet for the sake of the China 
of to-morrow, we believe that the Christian students and those 
who have had the privileges of a higher education should give to 
the church in their land the whole-hearted devotion which it so 
much needs. 



CHAPTER IV 

RESEARCH AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION 

554. Afeaning and importance. — The connotation of the word 
"research" varies widely. It is sometimes used in a very restricted 
and technical sense. But, as here employed, it is taken to cover 
all forms of investigation which result in the widening of the field 
of knowledge and ideas, whether philosophical, comparative, statis- 
tical, or experimental in character. From this point of view the 
re-interpretation of well-established data, resulting in a fresh and 
fruitful presentation of subject-matter, may be as useful as the 
discovery of new data. Or, again, a careful translation of a 
valuable foreign book may represent an important contribution 
to the knowledge of the Chinese. In China there is an unlimited 
field for research of all kinds and perhaps nowhere is the need 
for it more urgent. It is vital in order to illumine the path which 
every progressive movement ought to follow, whether it be scien- 
tific agriculture, social reconstruction, or the teaching of special 
subjects. 

The Christian system of education can hope to undertake 
only a limited amount of the more technical and expensive kinds 
of research, but it is essential to its own progress that it should be 
imbued with the spirit of investigation and that its activities should 
not be confined to teaching and administration. This is especially 
true of the senior colleges, which will naturally initiate and direct 
the main lines of research. It may be said that every teaching de- 
partment of a senior college should undertake some piece of inves- 
tigation, however small, and that all members of the stafif capable 
of this kind of work should have the time and opportunity to 

338 



RESEARCH AS A FACTOR 339 

undertake it. Some at least of the more promising students in 
these departments should be trained to undertake independent 
work and encouraged in every possible way to follow it up after 
graduation. Few needs have a higher claim on whatever new 
funds may become available for the cause of Christian education 
in China than the institution of (post-) graduate fellowships. Some 
of these should be tenable abroad, but China itself should be 
increasingly regarded as the main field for most kinds of (post-) 
graduate research. 

In coming years an increasing number of missionary 
educators should do the research work for their higher degrees 
in China rather than in America or Europe. The provision of 
facilities for this purpose is certain in the end to prove a good 
investment for the entire educational system, since all experience 
shows that research tends in the long run to pay for itself. 

555. Objectives. — It is hardly open to question that in an 
avowedly Christian system of education those subjects which have 
the most direct bearing on the working out and application of the 
Christian message should have the first claim on whatever re- 
sources may be available for equipping high grade institutions 
with special research funds. On this principle the Commission is 
of the opinion that provision should be made for research in 
the following subjects: religion, education, medicine, the social 
sciences and agriculture. In the case of two of these, education 
and the social sciences, no such provision has yet been made, and 
the Commission attaches great importance to its recommendation 
for the establishment as early as practicable of an Institute of 
Educational Research and an Institute of Economic and Social 
Research. Concentration on the highest type of theological studies, 
which is recommended elsewhere, should facilitate research in 
theology and comparative religions. 

The foregoing statement of policy does not imply that 
there is no place within the Christian system of education for the 
endowment of research in subjects other than those named, e. g., 
industrial chemistry, but only that they have not the same claims 
on funds definitely allocated to promote the special objects for 



340 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

which that system exists. The needs of applied science, engineer- 
ing, and kindred subjects should, in time, be met by donors who, 
while in general sympathy with Christian education, are more 
particularly interested in the development of these subjects. 

556. Organisation. — Although research of the more tech- 
nical kind will naturally be associated with special institutes and 
with the senior colleges, much useful work, involving compara- 
tively little expense, can be accomplished throughout almost the 
whole educational system, given the necessary organization and 
the spirit of cooperation. This is particularly the case in China, 
where the solution of many problems depends on the systematic 
collection of data. Throughout its report the Commission is em- 
phasizing the point that the schools of all grades and the colleges 
in a given area should form a closely-linked system and that each 
individual institution should contribute to the strength of the whole. 
This unity of purpose can find no better or more useful expres- 
sion than in the organized collection, sifting and interpretation of 
data. A single illustration may be given. A great need in China 
is accurate climatic knowledge and particularly precise informa- 
tion as to the distribution and seasonal fall of rain, including the 
liability to variation in both seasonal and total annual fall. The 
utility of data of this kind to agriculture, and especially in areas 
liable to famine, is recognized to be enormous. Failing a highly- 
organized and costly meteorological department, such as has pro- 
duced the invaluable "Atlas of Indian Meteorology," the collec- 
tion of data must depend on a number of voluntary workers. To 
equip the middle and higher primary schools throughout a given 
province or higher educational area with simple meteorological 
instruments would cost comparatively little ; the recording and 
understanding of the data so obtained would have considerable 
educational value. The department of physics or physical geog- 
raphy of the university or central college would be the natural 
clearing-house of all this information, would sift and interpret 
the data and would ultimately be in a position to publish accurate 
climatic maps of the region and to work out their significance for 
agriculture. 



RESEARCH AS A FACTOR 341 

The same methods can be apphed to many other aspects 
of the Hfe of a region, both physical and economic. The Regional 
Survey Movement, as it is called in France, England and other 
countries, is proving at once of scientific and of educational value. 
It makes the interaction between a community and its physical 
environment a central study and emphasizes the point that with 
man's increasing control over natural forces all the elements in 
that environment can be made to serve social ends. Its object is, 
therefore, to collect and coordinate all data bearing not only on the 
present conditions, but also on the future possibilities of the 
region under consideration. For this purpose it seeks to organize 
different groups of workers, each engaged in some particular local 
survey, such as geological, climatic, vegetational, agricultural, 
industrial, sociological, to keep them in constant touch with one 
another and to coordinate the results obtained, so as to build up a 
synthetic view of the locality or neighborhood as a whole made 
up of related parts. Connected surveys of this kind not only throw 
great light on each other but help to clear up problems which 
baffle more isolated investigations. They bring together in a 
common field of inquiry different groups of workers and foster 
in the coming generation an intense interest in their own neigh- 
borhood. The work can be spread over a number of years, can be 
begun on a very humble scale and developed as circumstances 
permit. 

557. The suggestion is therefore made that as early as prac- 
ticable steps be taken to institute regional surveys of this kind, 
in each of the higher educational areas for the whole or part of 
the field served. They should be under the general direction of the 
central college or group of colleges, but every effort should be made 
to enlist the assistance of school teachers, missionaries, and of all 
others capable of giving help of any kind. It is also preeminently 
the kind of enterprise in which cooperation with government 
schools and colleges might be sought. 



CHAPTER V 

THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM IN EDUCATION 

It is not the purpose of this Chapter to discuss the whole 
question of the place of linguistic study in Chinese schools, but 
rather to consider to what extent Chinese, especially the new 
national language, and to what extent English, should be made 
the subjects of study and used as mediums of instruction. 

558. The following are the chief elements of the problem: 

a. Christian education in China must for a somewhat 
indefinite period be organized and conducted largely by teachers 
from the West. 

b. There is widespread desire on the part of Chinese 
students to learn English, in view of its vocational value. This 
natural desire must be considered in its relation to the objectives 
of Christian education. 

c. Suitable text and reference books in Chinese, espe- 
cially for college and vocational subjects, are not as yet available, 
and their lack makes instruction in Chinese exceedingly difficult. 

d. There is a great diversity of dialects in the spoken 
language, making it impossible for the people in one district to 
understand their fellow countrymen living only a few miles distant. 
On the other hand, there is a remarkable interest manifesting itself 
on the part of progressive Chinese in the unification and national- 
ization of their language. 

I. The Problem for the Missionary 

559. That every educator who comes to China for life should 

342 



THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM 343 

learn to speak Chinese will be regarded as axiomatic, but the extent 
to which he should use it in teaching will doubtless vary greatly 
with the locality and type of work. 

Every missionary faces the perplexing problem how 
to acquire an adequate knowledge of the language and fluency in 
its use. In the earlier stages of mission work a mastery of the 
language was the sine qua noii of all activity and even of existence 
in China. There was also much more freedom for studying and 
occasion for practising it. Despite the trained teachers, scientific 
methods and other facilities afforded by the excellent language 
schools, which the majority of recent arrivals attend, there is 
reason to fear that in general their attainments in speaking and 
especially in reading Chinese would not compare favorably with 
that of their predecessors. This relative deficiency in the case of 
younger missionary educators is perhaps due chiefly to the pres- 
sure of multifarious duties and the demand for teaching, or teach- 
ing in, English. Christian schools have been built upon so wide- 
spread and unrelated a basis, and have so frequently yielded to the 
insistent urge for enlargement that, with constant losses and dis- 
appointments as concerns available teachers, all new missionaries 
are loaded up from the beginning with too many routine tasks. 
Mission work is becoming increasingly complex and entails many 
extraneous claims upon everyone. Slow progress in securing the 
cooperation of qualified Chinese and in sharing responsibilities 
with them results in the necessity of the foreigner looking after 
many absorbing details for which his Chinese colleagues should 
care. Except in primary schools, English is taught more or less, 
and the new missionary is the logical one to do this. Before long 
the golden days for language study have slipped by, the relish 
for it is lost ; contentment with such knowledge as has been ac- 
quired becomes habitual ; the Chinese, with whom one has to do 
daily, show no outward signs of disrespect ; in short, there is no 
compelling incentive to the unremitting study and resolute refusal 
to be diverted from it, which alone brings proficiency. This im- 
perfect mastery of the language is the more to be regretted m 
educators because the mass of Chinese have no other means of 



344 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

appraising one's scholarship. Recent developments are making 
them, especially those in student circles, more intelligently critical. 
There are alluring openings for friendly contact with educated 
Chinese and for the exertion of influence among them, such as 
have not existed in the past. Most important of all, religious 
conversations, even with students who are fairly at home in Eng- 
lish, are most effective in their mother-tongue. But such conver- 
sations make heavy demands on the vocabulary and general lin- 
guistic powers of the foreign teacher. The same is equally true 
of all public religious meetings for students and others. For the 
distinctive purpose of Christian education, less extensive pro- 
grams, allowing new teachers opportunity for constant progress in 
language study and practice, would perhaps accomplish much more. 
Apart from all other arguments in favor of fewer schools and 
greater concentration, the linguistic improvement which this ought 
to effect among w^estern teachers is a weighty consideration, and 
calls for a change of policy. 

II. The Problem of English 
560. The Chinese are eager to acquire the command of 
English for both commercial and cultural reasons. The knowledge 
of English increases one's earning capacity. It is also the medium 
for modern learning of all types, and is the coveted evidence of 
up-to-date scholarship. Both of these are proper objectives of 
Christian education and enable missionaries to render a service 
for which they are naturally equipped. The vocational aspects of 
the subject are discussed elsewhere. (See Section 199). As to 
the cultural values, the situation is somewhat analogous to that in 
England at the time of the Renaissance when the new learning was 
mediated through Greek and Latin, which continued to be the 
stimulus as well as the method for gaining knowledge until the 
English had made of their native speech a vehicle adequate for 
all demands. 

If Macaulay's dictum is true elsewhere, that no one 
understands his own language until he knows at least one other, 
it is peculiarly true in China to-day. where the literary style is 
being radically changed under the influence of western culture. 



THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM 345 

The time will surely come, and missionary education is hastening 
it, when the Chinese language will be able to express, and Chinese 
scholars to furnish, all the ideas or information the nation will 
require. But until then at least English will be, as the classics or 
modern European languages have been in England and America, 
the sign of broad culture and a most useful tool for acquiring and 
imparting it. 

From the standpoint of Christian education there are, 
however, two main objections to the emphasis on English: 

a. One objection is cultural. Either it is emphasized to 
the point of neglecting Chinese, or it is used as the medium of 
instructiqn for subjects in themselves too important to be allowed 
to suffer by forcing the student to give his thought largely to 
understanding the medium. On the whole, it would seem emphat- 
ically unwise to teach middle school subjects to any large extent 
in English. Wherever the six-year middle school course is adopted, 
daily study of English, as a language, throughout this period ought 
to give sufficient mastery of the language either for general use 
or for entering college. This should obviate the necessity for be- 
ginning it in the primary school or for using it for language prac- 
tice in other middle school subjects. But college preparatory Eng- 
lish, thus limited, must be very thoroughly and scientifically taught. 
Short-term teachers can be used less extensively on this program 
than where more subjects are taught in English, but they can 
render a most useful service in teaching it as a subject. It should 
not be overlooked, however, that there are localities and types of 
schools where English need not be taught at all. 

b. The second objection is a moral one. A student 
equipped with this increased earning capacity will be tempted to 
enter commercial or other careers instead of some form of Chris- 
tian or patriotic service. If, however, the spiritual life of the 
school is what it should be the student will carry the Christian 
spirit into any career he may select, whereas those who deliber- 
ately choose the callings involving greater sacrifice will db so with 
a strength of conviction which should promise well for larger 
usefulness. 



346 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

The fact that the Christian colleges virtually without 
exception require a working knowledge of English and use it 
chiefly throughout the course, would create the presumption that 
this policy is necessary or, at least most advantageous. This idea 
is strengthened by the almost equal emphasis on English in govern- 
ment schools of the same grade, and reinforced by the lack of 
suitable text books in Chinese and the wide range of reference 
reading made possible through English. There is, besides, the 
practical consideration that Christian colleges are so largely staffed 
by western teachers and that the teaching of scientific and literary 
or technical subjects of this grade is not easy for any foreigner 
through a language acquired as an adult, especially if he has not 
achieved sufficient skill for such specialized use. That colleges in 
China of all types will eventually come to use the language of the 
country is not to be doubted ; it is, indeed, highly desirable that 
this should come to pass as rapidly as possible. The only questions 
are how Christian educators can most effectively contribute to this 
end, and how in the meantime they can best carry on their instruc- 
tion. The ideal would seem to be a bi-lingual entrance requirement 
for the present, sufficiently high both in Chinese and in English, 
and an elastic bi-lingual system in college classes by which each 
teacher would feel free to use either language. Thus, the lectures 
could be in Chinese with text and reference books in English. 
Or the teacher and his students might make English the basis of 
instruction while falling into the use of Chinese when convenient. 
Or the process might be reversed by talking in Chinese, but em- 
ploying English technical terms. This flexible system would keep 
students constantly close to their mother-tongue, and give them 
a certain nimbleness or ease in passing from one speech to the 
other, while it would enable the teacher to use the medium which 
could better express his thought or make it clearer to his students. 
But this has in two respects important implications for college 
administration. Foreign teachers, except in the case of short- 
term people and special lecturers from abroad, must be permitted 
to study Chinese much more continuously and diligently than is 
now the rule, and the number of western-trained Chinese should 



THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM 347 

be steadily increased. With this latter development the problem 
will largely solve itself. 

III. The Problem of Books 
561. In the institutions of higher education and, in- 
deed, to a considerable extent in secondary or even primary schools, 
especially also in religious and vocational courses, the lack of text 
and reference books is a serious limitation. Although in the lower 
departments this is being rapidly overcome by such publications as 
the admirable series issued by the Commercial Press, yet much 
remains to be done. In college and professional subjects this is 
much more true. In all general courses, however, missionary edu- 
cators are in danger of failing to keep up with the activities of 
Chinese who are producing a wide range of educational literature. 
In the main this field will be more and more covered by them. 
There remain the distinctively Christian books, and such technical 
volumes as probably would not otherwise be provided in the im- 
mediate future. Hitherto missionaries have perforce done much 
translating or adapting of western text books, and have thus 
rendered a most useful service. To a limited degree this must 
continue. But the creation of educational and Christian literature 
ought hereafter to be achieved by a much greater encouragement 
of Chinese original efifort than in the past. By discovering, 
training, inspiring, and otherwise assisting gifted young Chinese, 
missionaries will make a more fruitful contribution than by any 
large measure of direct literary work in Chinese. It is the very 
genius of Christianity to generate life and help it to function. 
It prevents the foreign flavor, which Chinese detect even when 
missionaries use every effort to have their material put in proper 
shape by Chinese writers. There is already ample evidence of the 
capacity of the Chinese for such work and their eager interest in it. 
Chinese scholars have as one of the finest elements in their heritage 
the instinct for literary work and, when this is combined with 
modern training and sufficient freedom, the results ought to be 
creditable to the Christian educational enterprise. But Chinese 
teachers in mission institutions have as yet, with rare exceptions, 
neither the equipment, the leisure nor the impulse for high grade 



348 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

literary production. Courses specifically intended for training 
writers will have immense value. See Chapter on Education of 
Writers, Sections 498-500. 

IV. The Problem of a Unified Speech 
562. China is divided into numberless dialectic variations. 
There is also the separation between the written and spoken 
language. Public-spirited leaders realize the unifying value politi- 
cally, and the aid to progress of every sort, of a standard 
colloquial which would not differ more in its spoken and its 
written forms than does any modern European language. The 
promoters of the "Literary Revolution" have this as one of their 
chief objectives. The new "national language" is being intro- 
duced very widely in government and private schools. Christian 
education can aid greatly in this beneficial reform by requiring 
attention to this in all Chinese courses, and by employing Chinese 
teachers as extensively as possible who can speak the standard 
pronunciation. Foreign teachers will find the new style much 
easier to read than the now almost archaic Wenli. They ought to 
master a reading knowledge of it and acquire the new educational 
nomenclature. One aid to this, while at the same time keeping 
one in touch with Chinese educational advance, would be to sub- 
scribe to "The New Education," a monthly edited by Chinese edu- 
cational leaders. 



CHAPTER VI 

SUMMER SCHOOLS, SHORT COURSES AND 
WINTER INSTITUTES 

I. For Teacher's 

563. The important service rendered by summer schools 
is well recognized in the West, where such schools have become a 
characteristic feature of the educational system. There is no need 
to argue the potential value of similar schools in China. The inade- 
quate preparation of many teachers and their comparative isolation 
are quite sufficient reasons for the organization of summer schools 
for teachers in Christian schools and colleges. 

The Commission has no complete data at hand showing 
the extent to which this need has been met in China. Several 
colleges hold summer schools, and the summer conferences of the 
Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations have 
had an important part in the Christian education and activities 
of students. 

564. There are doubtless difficulties to be met, such as : 

a. The relatively small number of teachers to be served ; 

b. Their scattered posts and the consequent expense of 
time and money for travel to central points ; 

c. The heat of summer, which is great in most parts of 
China and militates against the best work; 

d. The fact that the chief dependence for instruction 
must be upon those already overworked ; 

e. The fact that the teachers who come to the school as 
pupils themselves are pretty thoroughly fagged by the time of 
the summer vacation ; 

f. The expense of the school. 

349 



350 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

565. Summer school for advanced work. — It is, however, 
not only highly desirable, but almost imperative that provision be 
made for the further training of teachers in mission schools. 
One plan proposed for meeting this need contemplates a summer 
school of education offering courses of college and (post-) graduate 
grade, much on the model of the summer school at Teachers' 
College of Columbia University. Credit must be granted by insti- 
tutions in Great Britain and America for work done in such a 
school. The school could be of about three weeks' duration, and 
be held successively in two different centers each year, thus serving 
all parts of China. At least two members of the staff should come 
from abroad for the summer's work. It should be planned to meet 
the needs of both Chinese and foreign teachers. 

This plan does not meet all of the difficulties involved, 
but such a school would be of great value to the teachers and to 
the cause of Christian education in China. We commend to the 
attention both of the associations in China and of the Boards at 
home the need of working out some plan which will effectively 
reach teaching staffs with strong, stimulating, advanced summer 
school work. 

566. SJwrt courses or zvinter institutes. — It is evident that 
the rank and file of teachers must be given reasonably easy oppor- 
tunity to secure assistance for study. We suggest, therefore, a 
plan of short courses or teachers' institutes, of a week or ten days 
in length, to be given once a year in each of about thirty centers 
in China, by an itinerant staff of especially qualified teachers of 
teachers. This staff should be composed of Chinese and mission- 
ary educators, and persons from abroad brought over for a year's 
special service. Centers should be so located as to secure the 
attendance of practically all the teachers in the area, and schools 
should be closed to enable teachers to attend. Provision should 
be made for both Chinese and foreign teachers. These short 
courses should designedly feed into the summer schools, and 
should be supplemented if possible by correspondence and read- 
ing courses. Some recognition of attendance should be given in 
salaries as well as by certificates. It is desirable that the colleges 



SUMMER SCHOOLS AND WINTER INSTITUTES 351 

of education and the provincial and national boards of education 
carry large responsibilities in this phase of work. 

While these short courses are designed primarily for 
professional improvement and must be very practical, a fair pro- 
portion of the time, perhaps one-fourth, should be given to sub- 
jects of more general concern, such as literature, health, and public 
questions, and in the case of rural teachers, the use of the school 
as a community center and the place of the school in village devel- 
opment. 

567.. Summer courses in colleges. — Each of the schools and 
colleges giving teacher-training courses should endeavor to hold 
summer schools for teachers in service. Two classes of teachers 
should be provided for, the old style teachers who have had no 
normal training, and the teachers who attend for relatively ad- 
vanced work. If possible, credit should be given for this work. 
The time will probably come when regular under- 
graduate work will be given in the summer by some of the colleges. 
Possibly the Associated Christian Colleges of China could unite 
in the conduct of such a summer session in a place not too tryingly 
hot. A strong staff could be drawn from the various colleges, and 
by rotating professors no missionary educator need do summer 
work more than twice during a term of service in China. 

568. Unquestionably all of these proposals involve expense. 
But the imperative need for training-in-service of all teachers in 
the Christian institutions in China justifies even seemingly elabo- 
rate plans for meeting the demand. If quality of work is really 
the key-word for the Christian educational forces, a successful 
program of short courses for the teachers must be made. 



II. For Preachers and Other Religious Workers 

569. All that has been said in favor of constantly recurring 
opportunities for the training of teachers in service applies with 
almost equal force to the workers whose task is more immediately 
that of recruiting and training converts to the Christian life. The 
Commission is not prepared to submit a plan of operations. Con- 



352 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

fessedly the subject calls for more consideration than we have been 
able to give it. But we see no reason why the general plans sug- 
gested for teachers might not be the basis of similar plans for 
the preacher and his confreres. 

III. Short Courses for Various Groups of Adults 

570. There are possibilities of great significance in the even- 
tual development of many types of short courses for special 
groups, church workers, Sunday-school teachers, and other spe- 
cialists, lay or professional. Increasing social organization in 
China will soon bring these groups into being. Probably the 
colleges are on the whole the best agencies for offering short 
courses to these groups. We commend to all colleges and, indeed, 
to middle schools, the idea of making the short course (one week, 
two weeks, four weeks, as needed) an organic part of the resident 
teaching service to be inaugurated and developed as real need 
emerges. 

571. The need of developing this work for teachers, preach- 
ers, and others is urgent. Some difficulties which must be reckoned 
with in carrying out these or similar plans for short course instruc- 
tion have been mentioned, but many of these same obstacles have 
had to be overcome in western countries. Wise choice of location, 
moderate demands upon individual instructors, variety of program, 
and ample recreation, will all aid in making summer schools attrac- 
tive and feasible. 

The Commission emphasizes the vital importance of 
this subject, and reiterates the suggestion that it be made a subject 
of early study by the Christian educational forces in China. 



CHAPTER VII 

'SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LIBRARIES 

I. Development of the Reading Habit 

572. The library in a school or college has a double function, 
to foster a love of reading for its own sake, and to provide for 
both teacher and pupil the books needed for collateral reading 
and advanced study. 

The Chinese student often shows a marked contrast 
between high attainment in the subjects he has studied and mea- 
greness of general knowledge and interests. This poverty of 
general mental equipment is due in the main to the lack of a habit 
of general reading, and this again to the small number of books, 
outside his required text books, which are available to him while 
at school. The difficulties of the Chinese language are responsible 
for this condition. The wider use of the spoken language in 
literature is, however, tending to correct this. But lack in training 
to read for the acquisition of knowledge or for mere pleasure is 
also partly responsible. 

573. Beginning with the primary grades the teacher should 
see that attractive books, in a style that is easy to understand, are 
placed at the pupil's disposal. If necessary, such supplementary 
reading may at first be required in connection with other subjects. 
In some of the large, publicly-supported day schools a reading 
room is found, furnished with tables and chairs, with simple 
magazines and newspapers on the tables, and a case or two filled 
with attractive illustrated books of biography and other subjects. 
Lists of such books and magazines can be secured from the large 
Chinese publishing firms. In a small day school where it is not 

353 



354 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

possible to have a room set aside for this purpose, there should be 
a case or shelf for books which may be taken by the child to his 
desk for silent reading. Definite periods may be assigned for 
such reading, and brief reports, either verbal or w^ritten, of the 
contents of the books may be required. 

In the middle school, and in the primary boarding school, 
there should, if possible, be a room which is used solely as a 
library and reading room. One corner of it may contain some 
easy chairs, a fireplace and shelves with books of general interest. 
This should be made the most attractive corner in the whole school, 
for pleasure in reading is increased by pleasant surroundings. 
Where such a separate reading room is not possible, groups of 
books may be temporarily placed in class rooms. 

By the time a student reaches college his habits of 
reading are more or less determined. There is still need, however, 
for bringing new books of interest and value to his attention by 
means of bulletin board notices. 

A definite share of the allowance for the purchase of 
books should be used for books of general interest, including 
fiction, and for magazines and newspapers. Teachers, as well as 
the librarian, should assume the responsibility of seeing that the 
books are read. 

II. Reference Libraries 

574. In the primary school the reference library should 
include a small selection of supplementary books for the students 
(these may be included in the general book shelf already men- 
tioned), and especially those helps for the teacher which he can- 
not be expected to buy for himself. Salaries in China do not 
leave much margin for book buying. Besides books, the school 
may well subscribe for a few of the Chinese educational journals. 
When the school is large enough to have a teachers' room these 
books and magazines may be kept there. Every class room should 
contain a Chinese dictionary, accessibly placed, and the children 
should be accustomed to refer to it for the meaning of unfamiliar 
words. 



SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LIBRARIES 355 

The middle school should have a teachers' room, with a 
reference library. The students' library should contain a wisely- 
chosen selection of standard Chinese books, but books in English 
will also be required, varying in number according to the emphasis 
placed upon the study of English. A limited number of the more 
expensive English reference books and sets should be included 
for the S9,ke of the foreign teachers, but these books should not 
be permitted to encroach upon those more widely used by the 
students and Chinese members of the faculty. 

575. The Christian colleges of China have only begun to 
realize the absolute necessity of a good library. Only a few have 
what would be considered even the beginnings of a college library. 
This applies to both Chinese and English books. A study of 
budgets shows that as a rule the appropriations for the purchase of 
books are quite inadequate. In general the amount should not be 
less than five per cent of the total annual budget. When books are 
selected by departments a special allowance should be made for 
books of general use, such as encyclopedias. Dead wood should 
be kept out. Gifts of books from private libraries at home often 
result only in filling shelves with volumes of no present-day value. 
By giving an impression of numbers they actually tend to prevent 
the purchase of books that are really needed. 

Not all Christian colleges can afiford to be equally strong 
in all departments of the library; as courses are differentiated 
among the colleges so libraries should be. There may then be a 
working arrangement whereby books can be loaned from one 
library to another as they are needed. 

III. Librarians 

576. In the primary school and in most middle schools the 
teacher or an older student will act as librarian. Where the school 
is large and there is a library reading room there is need of a paid 
librarian. Few schools, even among the colleges, can afford a 
trained librarian from abroad. Usually a foreign member of the 
staff is in general charge of the library, with one or more Chinese 



356 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

assistants trained locally. A better method would be the appoint- 
ment of a thoroughly trained Chinese librarian, one or two full- 
time assistants, and a number of student assistants. Whatever the 
method employed a faculty library committee is advisable. Pro- 
vision for the training of librarians should be offered in connec- 
tion with one of the Chinese Christian colleges. Fortunately such 
a course is now offered at Boone University, and there is no need 
of its duplication elsewhere. Not only is there a three-years' 
course to train fully-qualified librarians, but short courses are 
offered to Chinese and foreign librarians and assistants. 



IV. Library Extension Work 

577. Extension work of value can be carried on in connec- 
tion with school and college libraries. What can be done is shown 
by the activities of the library of Boone University. It has estab- 
lished, in Wuchang, the first public library in China run on modern 
lines. It also maintains four public reading rooms in the same 
city, and has a system of travelling libraries for the benefit of 
schools and other organizations in the Yangtse valley. It has 
recently offered, most generously, to put the services of its two 
trained librarians at the disposal of other librarians to assist in 
organization and development. 

578. With the correlation of Christian schools into provin- 
cial or regional areas, and the linking of the schools with the col- 
leges in these areas, it should not be difficult to develop a system 
of travelling school libraries, under the direction of the college 
library or the provincial board of education. Arrangements might 
also be made whereby single volumes from a college library could 
be loaned to individuals at a distance. 

Missionaries are not able to bring with them all the 
books they would wish, especially expensive technical reference 
books. The provision for loan to individuals of a number of small 
sets of books on professional subjects similar to those furnished 
to American ministers by the American Institute of Sacred Liter- 
ature, would be a great help. They might well be handled by one 



SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LIBRARIES 357 

of the centrally located college libraries. Similar sets in Chinese 
could be made available for Chinese teachers in each educational 
area. 

In these and other ways the advantages of the college 
or school library could be extended throughout the whole system 
of Christian education. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE ARCHITECTURE OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS 

579. The tendency to copy the West and seldom to choose the 
best is seen in the bnildings erected bv the Chinese iti every pro- 
vincial capital, for government and school nse. and ktiown as 
foreign style. The preference is for a rococo style of decoration 
of the exterior and early \'ictorian itUeriors. It is a thousand 
pities that they have failed to appreciate the superiority of their 
own style in architecture, "a style worthy of a place lu'-side the 
Greek and the Gothic." The missions have not been entirely guilt- 
less in this matter, for in the buildings which they have erected 
they have often imitated the worst in western architectiue. 

Many of the buildings planned and built during the last 
five years for Christian colleges have been incorporating some 
features of Chinese style. One Chinese college (private) is erect- 
ing a group of Chinese buildings. The problem of adaptation 
enters here as into all this transformation taking place in China. 
Some of the efforts to follow Chinese style in school and college 
buildings are not altogether successful and are severely criticized 
bv the Chinese ; but the effort should continue, for the beauty of 
palace and temple courts, the more modest beauties of cloistered 
quadrangles and moon doorways, the curving roof lines and 
columned porticos, are a part of the best of old China. The 
expense is justified in college building. Beauty builds itself into 
character and college loyalties are strengthened by memories of a 
campus beautiful. 

Middle school buildings call for simpler treatment. Sep- 
arate class room buildings could be designed with a view to 

358 



ARCHITFXTURE OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS 359 

j>re.serving the simple dij^nity oi the smaller temples (jr middle- 
class homes, dormitories in modest quadrangles can he built at 
moderate cost and Chinese students will feel more at home in 
them than in foreign factory-style buildings. 

Primary school buildings should be simple and inexpen- 
sive, with plenty of light, good ventilation, blackboards and modest 
furniture. * The Chinese table is as good as the American desk 
if correct height is considered. 

580. Architecture, or at least the study of design in buildings 
and interior decoration, de.serves a place in the curriculum. There 
is a growing demand for draughtsmen in connection with archi- 
tectural firms in large cities. The Mission Architectural Bureau 
asks the missions to provide for such training and it would seem 
desirable to have one of the colleges develop a department of 
architecture, preferably in connection with a course in civil engi- 
neering and in one of the centers where architects would be avail- 
able for lectures and other instruction. 



PART V 

SUMMARY OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND 
RECOMMENDATIONS 

581. The purpose of this part of the Report is to present in 
condensed form the general principles and recommendations which 
the studies of the Commission have led them to adopt. In sub- 
stance, and to a considerable extent in language, this part repeats 
what has been said more fully in the previous parts. 

I. The Purpose and Spirit of Christian Education 

582. The distinctive contribution of Christian education to the 
total task of the church in China is the application of the methods 
of education to the realization of the aim of Christian missions, 
which is, the establishment of the Kingdom of God through the 
bringing of individuals into personal relations with Jesus Christ, 
and the creation of a Christian social order. Its contribution to 
the total zvork of education in China is the provision of an educa- 
tion that permeates every aspect of school life with the Christian 
spirit, and thus, by its content and its method, meets the deepest 
spiritual needs of the students. 

583. The essential characteristic of Christian education is, 
therefore, not in the body under whose authority it is conducted, 
nor in the ecclesiastical relations of the persons conducting it, nor 
fundamentally in the subject-matter of the curriculum, but in its 
spirit and purpose. It is education which is conducted in the 
Christian spirit and which exemplifies and imparts that spirit. 

584. In order, however, to conserve and guarantee the Chris- 
tian character of a system of education, it must be under the con- 

361 



362 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

trol of Christian men or women. In speaking, therefore, of a 
system of Christian education we must include in our definition 
not only the Christian spirit and motive of those who conduct the 
schools, but, as a guarantee of the continuance of its Christian 
character, the provision that nt is controlled by Christian men 
and women. 

585. Since it is of the essence of the Christian spirit to desire 
to do good to all men as we have opportunity, no form or type 
of education which will conduce to the well-being of the Chinese 
can be in principle excluded from the scope of Christian education 
in China. The Sunday-school and the school of commerce are 
both within its possible scope. Either may be excluded by the 
spirit in which it is conducted. 

While the individual school may emphasize the evangelis- 
tic, edificatory, permeative, or broadly philanthropic purpose, no 
one of these terms alone is large enough to express the full pur- 
pose of Christian education as a whole. All must be compre- 
hended to realize that purpose perfectly. 

586. The personality of the educator is a matter of essential 
importance. Neither perfect organization, nor ideal curriculum 
and equipment can insure the best results. Character is an essen- 
tial element in the product of education, and therefore in the 
teacher. 

587. The prime consideration in every school must be the 
human product of the school. Name and place in a system may 
be important, but are secondary to the development of personali- 
ties. 

588. Christian education should clearly recognize the valu- 
able elements of Chinese civilization and seek to conserve them ; 
the vices of western civilization and seek to exclude them ; the 
defects of Chinese life and seek to correct them ; the valuable 
elements of western civilization and the essential principles of 
Christianity, and seek to impart them to China, making them vital 
elements of Chinese life. 

589. A system of Christian education parallel to that of the 
government will be needed in China for a long time to come. 



SUMMARY 363 

Nor is it likely that the people of China will wish or consent to 
dispense with Christian schools so long as they are thoroughly 
good schools, patriotic and national in atmosphere and influence, 
promptly and fully meeting all government requirements, avoiding 
all exotic and foreign characteristics, cooperating with government 
education in all practicable ways, yet furnishing a healthy variant 
from the uniform standard, and producing for the changing life 
of China, a Christian group, forward-looking and thoughtful, and 
at the same time disciplined and self-controlled. In establishing" 
Christian education of this type in China we may be assured that 
we are building for a long future. 

590. It should always be kept in mind that the Christian 
forces are developing a system of education which is to serve the 
needs of China, not the ends of any foreign nation. To this end 
all nationalities taking part in educational work should cooperate 
in the development of a single harmonious system adapted to 
China's needs, and should avoid so stereotyping their own particu- 
lar type and method of education as to hinder the development 
of a truly Chinese system. Neither nationalism nor denomina- 
tionalism should stand in the way of the development of education 
adapted to China's needs. 

591. From the same point of view the participation of the 
Chinese, both in the work of teaching and in that of organization 
and administration, and especially in that of discovering the 
methods best adapted to China, should increase as rapidly as quali- 
fied men and women can be found. The Chinese membership on 
the managing boards of mission schools should be increased as 
rapidly as possible to one-half, and should eventually displace for- 
eigners. Foreigners should be employed only for services for 
which there is as yet an inadequate number of competent Chinese, 
and the foreigners who are thus employed should be thoroughly 
qualified for their specific tasks. 

592. To the end that all the educational work conducted by 
the Christian forces may be conducted both economically and effi- 
ciently, provision should be made for the investigation in as thor- 
ough a manner as possible of the needs of China, religious, social, 



364 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

political, economical, educational, and of the methods by which 
these needs may be met through the creation and maintenance of a 
civilization at once essentially Chinese and Christian. Of special 
importance is the thorough investigation of the type of education 
that will best serve the needs of the Christian community and the 
Chinese people as a whole. To stimulate and direct investigation 
in these fields there should be established, at an early day, an In- 
stitute of Educational Research and an Institute of Economic 
and Social Research. 



II. Principles of Extension and Limitation 

593. The greatness of the task of education to be accom- 
plished in China, the limited resources of the Christian forces, 
Chinese and foreign combined, and the achievements, resources 
and responsibilities of the government, combine to limit the edu- 
cation which the Christian forces can undertake to a small frac- 
tion of the total task. 

594. The particular portion of the task to be undertaken 
must be carefully chosen. In view of the fact that only a thor- 
oughly naturalized Christianity can ever make China thoroughly 
Christian, the chief immediate goal of the Christian educational 
forces should be the development of a strong Christian community. 
In this purpose should be included the numerical increase of this 
Christian community, but more especially its development in 
health, resources, intelligence, character, and spiritual power. 
There can be but limited place for schools which do not contribute 
to this total result. The development of a Christian community 
within the nation is not indeed the ultimate goal of the Christian 
movement, but must be understood as the means to the achieve- 
ment of the larger purpose of making China a nation Christian 
in principle and practice, and of elevating her national life in all 
possible ways. But the most effective means to this largei: end is 
the building up of a Christian community, numerically, physically, 
economically, morally, and spiritually strong, and this should 
therefore occupy the place of central importance in the Christian 



SUMMARY 365 

educational enterprise. In this process it is of the utmost im- 
portance that the spiritual and cultural ends of education shall 
not be lost sight of , or subordinated to the commercial or material 
interest, 

595. On the other hand, one essential characteristic of a 
Christian community is the spirit of Christian service, the impulse 
of its members to benefit their fellow-men without too careful 
calculation of the reflex benefit to the church itself. Christian 
education must not therefore confine itself too strictly to measures 
which are directed solely toward the development of the Christian 
community. To be true to itself it must be sensitive to human 
need as such, and responsive to its call. 

596. In the fulfillment of its purpose Christian education 
must offer its educational opportunities both to Christian and to 
non-Christian, and in general without discrimination. 

597. The achievement of the aims of Christian education 
necessarily involves : 

a. The development of natural aptitudes, the enrichment 
of personal life, and the unfolding of personality. 

b. Equipment for a definite line of life work in which 
Christian service can be rendered, whether by distinctively voca- 
tional training, which should be at the same time liberal, or by 
handling general subjects in such a way as to give them the most 
direct bearing possible on those professions or occupations which 
are likely to be followed by students taking a non-specialized 
course of instruction. 

c. Specific training for citizenship under the conditions 
which control modern Chinese life. 

598. The education offered in all grades of schools should, 
therefore, include training for definite service in the work of mak- 
ing China Christian in principle and practice, and equipment for 
an occupation should be a leading part of the goal of all schools. 
Occupational training should, however, be liberalized, being un- 
derstood to include training for Christian service to society 
through vocations, personal growth through work intelligently 
performed, and preparation for the duties of citizenship in a 



366 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

democracy. Provision should also be made for the enrichment 
of personal life through the development of appreciation of nature, 
literature, and art. 

599. Confessedly unable to fill the whole educational field, or 
to undertake all the educational work which it might be desirable 
for them to assume, the Christian forces should seek all possible 
cooperation with government education. Such cooperation may 
consist in actual partnership in a school, in the training of teachers 
who will find their sphere of usefulness in government schools, or 
in the exertion of a moral and religious influence on the students 
in government and other non-Christian institutions. In some re- 
gions, or types, of education the purposes of Christian education 
may be better achieved by cooperation than by the maintenance 
of separate schools. 

600. To fulfill its central purpose Christian education must 
for the present, and probably for some time to come, conduct 
schools of all grades from the lowest to the highest. It is essential 
to the production of the Christian community that development 
of character be made a matter of concern from the elementary 
school up. Whatever may now, or later, be accomplished in some 
localities by adding religious instruction and Christian influence 
to the education given in public schools, the inadequacy of this 
method to meet the whole situation in China will, for a long time 
at least, require the maintenance of Christian elementary schools, 
and the provision, from this level up, of schools under Christian 
control and influence. 

601. With a view to accomplishing the most possible with 
the resources available, ratios should be established between the 
number of primary schools and middle schools, and between the 
latter and the colleges ; also between schools for boys and schools 
for girls. As in the work already done in this field by the China 
Christian Educational Association, these ratios should be based on 
reasonable expectations of the number of pupils who will pass 
from each grade to the higher, and be used as a general guide to 
the number of schools to be maintained. 

602. Schools of all grades and types should be made as 



SUMMARY 367 

nearly model or "quality" schools as possible. The best methods, 
equipment and teaching staff obtainable should be the goal, but 
without extravagance in physical equipment. Schools that cannot 
maintain this superior quality should, after a reasonable effort, be 
abandoned, and no enterprise should be launched that does not 
have reasonable hope of maintaining high quality. 

603. The same principle should be followed with reference to 
the areas in which development of schools shall be pressed. It 
is better to develop education of any given type — medical educa- 
tion for example — to the point of efficiency in one region, even 
at the cost of delaying the opening of work in another region, 
than to develop both inefificiently. On the other hand, it must 
be recognized that the type, or grade, of education which can 
be developed in a given area is largely dependent on the stage 
of development which the Christian movement has attained in that 
area. What is imperatively needed in one region may be beyond 
the needs of another. The ideal must be efficiency in every area 
which is entered, but efficiency measured in terms of each area. 

III. Specific Types of Education 

604. With a view both to the adequate staffing of schools 
with efficient teachers and to the increase of Chinese participation 
in, and control of, the Christian educational system, determined 
effort should be made to build up schools for the training of 
teachers and directors of education. The teacher is an indispens- 
able factor in the whole missionary enterprise. 

605. While the Christian forces can never undertake any 
large part of the work of elementary education, they should see 
to it that all the work that they do in this field is of the highest 
possible quality and in the highest degree contributory to the de- 
velopment of an effective Christianity in China. To this end em- 
phasis should be laid on the training of teachers, the provision of 
supervisors, and the establishment, in each region or district of 
model schools, which may serve to stimulate the creation of many 
others of a similar kind. Support of elementary education by the 
Chinese, without cost to the Mission Boards except for general 



368 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

guidance and advice, should be attained as rapidly as practicable, 
but without sacrifice of the quality of the education given. 

606. Special emphasis should be laid, in the immediate future, 
upon the development of strong middle schools with occupational 
courses. While not neglecting those studies which develop char- 
acter and enrich personality such courses should prepare students 
for a definite occupation. The dependable laity of the Christian 
church will come mainly, neither from the elementary schools 
nor from the university, but from the middle schools. Pupils 
who do not reach this level of education will scarcely be prepared 
to be leaders. Most of those who go beyond the middle schools 
will, for the present at least, join the professional classes. The 
backbone of the church will come from the middle school and 
the majority of its pupils will complete their school education in 
it. When we add to this that the leaders of the Christian com- 
munity at large, its educators and moulders of public opinion, will 
come from the higher institutions and must of necessity pass 
through the middle school, and that the qualified teachers of ele- 
mentary schools will also come from schools of middle school 
grade, whatever their precise name, it is evident that the main- 
tenance of the right kind and number of middle schools is in a 
very true sense the center of the educational problem. It is prob- 
able that no part of the whole task has received so little attention 
in proportion to its importance, 

607. These facts indicate that while preparation for college 
should be adequately provided for it should not dominate the de- 
velopment of middle schools. As a whole they should emphasize 
preparation for the various occupations in which students will 
engage. 

608. The foremost leaders of the church, its ministers, 
writers, educators, physicians and statesmen, must come from, or 
pass through, the colleges. A sufficient number of institutions of 
higher learning, permeated with the Christian spirit and dealing 
with the higher areas of thought from a Christian point of view, 
are indispensable for the creation of a strong Christian commun- 
ity. To be effective these institutions must be few in number in 



SUMMARY 369 

order that each may have an adequate staff of able teachers, may 
be provided with the equipment necessary for thorough work and 
may be able to pay adequate salaries. The policy of founding 
colleges in many centers was a natural one in the past, but its 
continuance under the new conditions created by the development 
of government education would inevitably mean weakness and de- 
feat. The policy of the Christian forces must now be to concen- 
trate higher education in a few centers, and to maintain thor- 
oughly strong institutions at these points. 

609. The first two years of the college or university course 
(following twelve years of study in elementary and middle schools, 
in accordance with the plan probably about to be adopted by the 
government) may, for convenience, be called the junior college, 
the higher years the senior college. Although occupational courses 
should be provided in all grades of schools from the junior middle 
school up, higher professional work should, in general, commence 
at the beginning of the senior college and continue for periods 
varying from one to five years, according to the requirements of 
the profession for which the student is preparing, and his own 
aptitude. 

610. In the field of higher professional education the Chris- 
tian forces should work in those departments in which the incul- 
cation of the Christian spirit and point of view are an essential 
element of the education itself. This principle necessitates higher 
schools or departments of theology, physical and biological science, 
social science and social service, literature, education, commerce 
and industry, social and political science (including law from a 
constructive point of view), and medicine. The inclusion in the 
Christian system, of schools less directly related to the inculca- 
tion and application of Christian principles is justified to the de- 
gree to which they contribute to the main purpose of Christian 
education, and to the extent to which the means are available for 
their development. 

611. The training of men for various forms of work in the 
Christian ministry is a matter of supreme importance. A course 
of study adapted to prepare men for the most responsible positions 



370 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

should be provided in one school. This school should serve for 
all China. A shorter course for those who have completed two 
years of college work, and other courses for those who have had 
only a middle school preparation, should be provided at a limited 
number of schools. A few well-staffed schools will meet the sit- 
uation far better than many understaffed institutions. Definite 
efifort should be made to induce more men to prepare for the 
ministry. 

612. Religious education, in the sense of organized efifort to 
give such instruction and training as shall inform the mind in 
respect to morals and religion, secure conversion, and develop 
character, is a vitally important element of Christian education. 
Neither in Christian lands, nor on the mission field, have the prin- 
ciples and methods of such education been at all adequately dis- 
covered. Progress in this field lags behind that in almost every 
other department of education. Mission schools fail oftener here 
than in mathematics or science. To discover how to bring to 
bear upon the child in school, church, and home, the influences 
most conducive to his highest religious and moral development is 
a task which calls for earnest and continuous study in China as in 
America and England. In this study account must be taken of all 
the conditions that afifect the life of children and youths in China. 

613. Hospitals and medical schools were for a long time the 
most notable expression of the distinctly philanthropic aspect of 
the missionary spirit. Both from this point of view, and from that 
of the relief given to the sick, they have been of inestimable value. 
In the development of the future, three facts must be taken into 
account. The raising of the standard of medical education and 
of hospital requirements, has resulted in great increase in the 
cost of both. The government and private agencies are now en- 
tering upon the field of medical education in China. Moreover, 
and of great importance, is the opening up of new opportunities 
and necessities for the expression of the spirit of Christian phi- 
lanthropy along other lines. 

In view of these facts, the policy of the Christian forces 
with reference to the relief of physical suffering should include 



SUMMARY 371 

the continuance of as many hospitals as can be adequately main- 
tained, the concentration of efifort on a very few medical schools, 
well staffed and equipped ; the adoption of the policy of co- 
education in medicine; provision for training health officers as 
well as physicians; and the prosecution of health work in school 
and community, especially in connection with the most adequately 
equipped and stafifed hospitals. 

614. The new industrial, commercial, and political conditions 
which have developed in China within recent years call for an 
enlargement of the horizon of Christian education and in some 
cases for a transfer of emphasis. The critical situation in the 
field of industry and commerce, where the worst mistakes of the 
western world are being repeated, call for a new emphasis on re- 
search by the Christian educational forces with a view to the dis- 
covery of a method of conducting industry and commerce on Chris- 
tian principles and at the same time with financial profit. Such 
research will in turn furnish the necessary basis for determining 
the curriculum and methods of schools in which men may be 
trained for positions of responsibiHty in industrial and commer- 
cial enterprises. 

The need of great improvement in the conditions of rural 
life, for the sake both of the progress of the church and the wel- 
fare of the nation, call for earnest attention to the problems of 
rural education, especially with reference to the improvement of 
the farming village. 

The importance to China of a healthy political life, char- 
acterized on the one hand by patriotism and the other by a regard 
for equity and friendship between nations, together with the neces- 
sity for many internal social adjustments in consequence of en- 
larging contact with other nations, demand larger and better op- 
portunities for the study of law and political science under the 
influence of Christian ideals. 

The extent to which and the methods by which these de- 
partments of education can be organized and conducted in Chris- 
tian schools demands careful but immediate study. That Christian 
education must take account of them is beyond doubt. 



372 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

615. The needs of both the rural and city population of China, 
are of vital importance, and both must be served by the Christian 
educational forces. The contrasting" conditions of country and 
city must be kept in mind in planning educational work for each. 
The problem of the elevation of life in the farming village is inti- 
mately related to that of the creation of a strong Christian com- 
munity. The teacher, especially the teacher in a village or rural 
community, should be not merely a school teacher, but the organ- 
izer of community life, closely associated with the church, and a 
promoter of community health. 

616. If the Christian community is to be strongly developed, 
and one of China's greatest needs to be met, the program of 
Christian education should include provision for the education of 
adults. Such education should help to the attainment of fuller 
life, economic, social, political, intellectual and spiritual, and be 
directed especially to the speedy development of an aggressive 
public opinion on behalf of the main needs of China, and the 
achievement of adequate social self-direction. 

IV. Resources, Organisation, and Support 

617. There are four ways in which Christian education in 
China can make its contribution, both to its proximate and its 
ultimate end. 

a. The bringing in, from other nations, of significant 
Christian personalities ; men and women, who can express the 
Christian message and can illustrate its application to personal and 
social life. 

b. The creating of institutions and agencies by which the 
publication of the Christian message may be perpetuated, and its 
application be made to individual and social development. 

c. The demonstration of methods of service, both for in- 
dividuals and institutions, by which Christian civilization may be 
advanced. 

d. The training of other personalities among the Chin- 
ese who can man the institutions, expound and apply the message, 
and make the Chinese social order Christian. 



SUMMARY 373 

The employment of these methods of work requires the 
enlistment of competent persons, foreign and Chinese, and necessi- 
tates large sums of money, which should come from both foreign 
and Chinese sources. The foreign personalities may eventually be 
withdrawn; foreign gifts may eventually be unnecessary; the insti- 
tutions, under Chinese management and support will remain. 

6i8. The purpose of Christian education can be most effec- 
tively achieved only by coordinating the entire body of Christian 
schools in China into a system in which each school shall take its 
place and contribute its share to the common purpose of all. This 
system should include all the work done by the various nationali- 
ties supporting Christian education in China, both Chinese and 
foreign, whether these nationaUties are working separately, in the 
sense of sustaining schools of their own, or unitedly in the sup- 
port of union schools. 

The governing principle of this system must be volun- 
tary cooperation. There is no overhead power which can legis- 
late for all, or compel obedience. Each mission, church, and in- 
stitution should cooperate fully, according to its special part in 
the whole plan, but should retain freedom of initiative and action 
within the bounds of loyalty to a common cause. In order to 
secure coordination bf effort and function, it is essential that 
Mission Boards should make the relationship of their schools to 
other Christian schools in the same region the primary considera- 
tion, rather than their relationship to the schools which they them- , 
selves maintain elsewhere. 

619. Both higher and lower education should be organized 
in areas. An area may consist of a province or of a group of 
adjacent provinces. It is recommended that there be six higher 
educational areas, viz : North China, East China, Central China, 
South China, West China, and Fukien. In each of these areas 
all higher education should be organized in a single institution, or 
in a university of the coordinated type. The lower educational 
areas may be identical with those of higher education, or the 
higher educational area may be subdivided into provinces for 
purposes of lower education. 



374 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

A system of cooperation should be arranged as between 
each higher educational area and the provincial areas within it, 
and among all the areas, higher and lower. The total system thus 
developed should be able to speak as a unit to its whole constitu- 
ency in China, Europe and America, 

620, The support of an adequate system of Christian educa- 
tion calls for : 

a. The most intelligent and effective possible use of all 
funds received from abroad or contributed in China. Neither men 
nor money should be wasted in ineffective methods or unnecessary 
duplication of effort. 

b. A large increase of funds raised abroad. The educa- 
tional task which now confronts China, and in particular the 
Christian forces in China, makes, to various classes of people in 
China and abroad, an appeal deserving of a larger response than 
it has hitherto received. The opportunity to help forward the 
cause of Christianity and of civilization by educational methods is 
one that should commend itself strongly to foreign residents in 
China, to men of means and world-wide interest in Great Britain 
and America, and to the Chinese themselves, and offers them 
opportunity for large and wise investment of money. 

As soon as business conditions in Europe and America 
will warrant, a vigorous campaign for increased support should 
be undertaken. The situation is a challenge to Christian countries 
of the first magnitude. 

621. Funds may properly be expected: 

a. From Mission Boards direct ; 

b. Through Mission Boards, from such sources in Eu- 
rope and America as (i) individuals, (2) schools and colleges, 
(3) foundations, (4) firms or corporations; 

c. From similar sources in China. 

622, Christian education in China should include definite 
effort to develop the spirit and practice of giving on the part of 
the Christian church. The Christian community can never ade- 
quately commend Christianity to China until it has learned to 
practice sacrificial giving. 



SUMMARY 375 

623. Grants in aid from outside sources should not be ac- 
cepted under conditions which would abridge the right of the 
Christian institutions to offer reh'gious, ethical and social instruc- 
tion, or to control the character of such instruction. 

624. In order to secure greater symmetry and eflfectiveness 
in the system of Christian education, and specifically to strengthen 
what might otherwise be the weak spots in the system, it is desir- 
able that an increasing proportion of the funds available for edu- 
cation be under the immediate control of the Boards of Managers 
of the higher educational institutions and of the Provincial and 
National Boards of Education. 

625. Money alone, however, though ever so largely given, 
will not accomplish the task or meet the opportunity. The pres- 
ent situation addresses itself to a larger dlass than that which 
has usually been reached by the missionary appeal. It opens a 
wide door of opportunity for useful life-service not only to evan- 
gelists and others with a theological education, but to trained edu- 
cators and to experts in all departments of science pure and ap- 
plied, in agriculture, engineering, political and social science and 
in the organization of commerce and industry. The requisites 
for all such men are the scientific attitude, thorough knowledge 
of their subject, ability to teach, interest in their fellow men, and 
the essential Christian spirit. 

626. In the same general interest and furthermore as a 
direct contribution to the cause of Christian education in China 
we recommend that definite plans be made for bringing to China 
some of the ablest British and American public speakers. It is 
suggested in particular that such men be sent to Peking and 
Shanghai for the six winter months, giving courses of sermons or 
addresses calculated to arrest the attention of Chinese and foreign 
alike and focusing thought on the great moral issues now before 
the world and on the fundamental principles of Christianity. 
Such men may be either preachers or laymen, but in any case 
should be taken from among the ablest men of their class, and 
whether they speak on religion or not should represent the Chris- 
tian spirit and point of view. 



PART VI 
REGIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS 

627. The purpose of this portion of the Report is to sum- 
marize, by regions, the recommendations made in the previous 
parts, assembHng them here for convenience of consultation. 

CHAPTER I. RECOMMENDATIONS THAT PERTAIN 
TO ALL REGIONS 

628. The main recommendations of this report pertaining 
to all regions and referring to new types of work to be under- 
taken and adjustments of existing work to be made, are as follows : 

I. Elementary Education ''■ 

629. A Board of Education should be established in each of 
the provincial areas. See Sections 107, 147, 148. 

There should be two secretaries of each Board of Edu- 
cation, one Chinese and one foreign. 

A supervisor should be appointed for each school dis- 
trict ; each supervisor should have the oversight of approximately 
twenty-five schools. 

630. At least one model school should be established in each 
district. 

631. In conformity with the proposed six-year primary 
course, higher primary schools should become part of six-year 
primary day schools, or be continued as country central boarding 
schools, or be reorganized into junior middle schools. 

632. Additional schools for girls are needed in very many 
places and also both for boys and girls in areas at present unoc- 
cupied or inadequately supplied with Christian schools. 

* See Chapter on Elementary Education, Sections 119155. 

377 



378 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

II. Secondary Education 

633. Because of the greater strain upon finances and staflf 
involved in the new six-year middle school, the number of schools 
of this type should be strictly limited. Two or more existing 
four-year schools might be combined into one thoroughly efficient 
six-year school ; others should be limited to the three years of the 
junior middle school. There should be a strong six-year school 
for boys and one for girls in each provincial capital. 

634. The number of junior middle schools should be as 
large as possible. They should be arranged in groups, each group 
being linked up with a strong senior middle school. 

635. All schools should include occupational courses of the 
types recommended in the Chapter on Secondary Education. Sec- 
tions 166-178, 

636. In each area adequate provision should be made for the 
training of elementary teachers, both men and women, by means 
of first-class teacher-training schools, or strong teacher-training 
courses in certain middle schools, or by both methods. 

G^^y. Bible schools should be combined in accordance with 
the recommendations of the Chapter on Tlieological Education. 
Sections 285-286. 

III. Higher Education 

638. There should be in each area one university, or a sys- 
tem of colleges, coordinated by an advisory council looking for- 
ward to their ultimate incorporation into a single university. All 
needless duplication should be elimininated. The advisory council 
of an area, and the association of Christian colleges and universi- 
ties for China as a whole, should make recommendations con- 
cerning the extent and type of work to be done by each insti- 
tution with a view to securing the widest practicable range of occu- 
pational courses at a minimum of expenditure. 

639. Senior college work in each area should be concen- 
trated on a single campus in so far as practicable. Unless able 



REGIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS 379 

to carry an adequate staff for one or more professional courses 
and to secure an enrollment of at least eighty students in senior 
college courses, a college should restrict itself to junior college 
work. Similarly junior colleges should consider the advisability 
of becoming strong six-year middle schools. 

640. Further developments in higher education for women 
should be in some form of affiliation with the college or university 
of the area. 

CHAPTER II. RECOMMENDATIONS BY REGIONS 

641. The provinces are divided and grouped under the six 
following areas : 

North China: Manchuria, Chihli, Shantung, Shansi, 
Shensi. 

East China: Kiangsu, Chekiang, Anhwei. 

Central China: Honan, Hupeh, Hunan, Kiangsi, 

Fukien. 

South China : Kwangtung, Kwangsi. 

West China: Kansu, Szechwan, Kweichow, Yunnan. 

Honan and Kiangsi are placed in Central China be- 
cause of geographical considerations, although ecclesiastical con- 
nections relate certain schools in each to North China and to 
East China respectively. Fukien, were it not for difficulties of 
topography and transportation, would be included in East China 
as it ultimately should be. Although the four western provinces 
are grouped as one area, their wide extent and the absence of 
steam communication make it difficult for Christian education to 
be administered there as a unit. In Szechwan alone is there any 
widely developed system of Christian schools. As the work in 
the other provinces develops it will be necessary to consider 
whether they should be organized on purely provincial lines, or 
whether a true union for West China is possible. 

I. North China 

642. Elementary Education. — See I A above. 628-632. 

643. Secondary Education. — See I B above. 633-637. 



38o CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

For boys the institutions in Moukden and Taiku and the 
Peking Academy should be reorganized as six-year middle 
schools ; one such school should be established in Tsinan and an- 
other in Sian. The existing normal schools should be combined 
into one, preferably at Tsinan. For girls, six-year middle schools 
with teacher-training work in the senior middle school should be 
conducted in Moukden, Tsinan, at one point in Shansi, and in 
Peking (unless a union normal school is organized). 

644. Higher Education. — There should be a single univer- 
sity open to men and to women; with a junior college in Peking 
using English, and one in Tsinan using Chinese ; with schools of 
theology in Peking taught chiefly in English, and in Tsinan 
taught chiefly in Chinese ; with a general senior college course and 
a school of literature in Peking, and a school of medicine and of 
education in Tsinan. The school of education and the school of 
theology in Tsinan should work in close cooperation. The North 
China Union Women's Medical School should be incorporated 
into the school of medicine at Tsinan. Agriculture (animal hus- 
bandry) should be continued at Peking contingent upon Chinese 
or specially provided foreign support. The Tientsin Anglo- 
Chinese College should be continued upon its present standard. 

II. East China 

645. Elementary Education. — See I A above. 628-632. 

646. Secondary Education. — See I B above. 633-637. 

647. Normal Schools. — See 636 above. The provision for 
training elementary teachers in this area is most inadequate. It 
should be carried on both for the Mandarin-speaking district and 
for the Wu dialect district. (This work is already being done 
for girls in Soochow.) 

648. Higher Education. — The ultimate aim for this area is 
the organization of an incorporated university for East China. 
To this end an adi'isory council should be formed, which should 
coordinate the work of St. John's University, the University of 
Nanking, Soochow University, Shanghai College, Hangchow 
Christian College, Ginling College and Nanking Theological Semi- 



REGIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS 381 

nary. The university to be thus organized should include a col- 
lege of school administration, general senior college and teacher- 
training courses, schools of theology, a school of agriculture, a 
school of law and political science, a school of commerce and 
industrial organization, a school of public opinion (extension 
work), an institute of economic and social research, and a school 
of civil engineering and architecture, if this last can be conducted 
without expense to the Mission Boards. No junior or senior 
colleges, either for men or for women, should be developed in 
this region, in addition to those already existing. 

III. Central China 

649. Elementary Education. — See I A above. 628-632. 

650. Secondary Education. — See I B above. 633-637. 

651. Normal ScJwols. — See Section 636. The Union Normal 
School for Boys in Wuchang should be supported by the various 
missions in the area and training for male teachers should be cen- 
tered there. Similar plans for the training of women teachers 
should be undertaken. 

652. Higher Education. — A university should be planned 
for Central China conducting its higher work in not more than 
two places and preferably in one. There should be one junior 
college on the university cam.ptis. and possibly one other, at Chang- 
sha. Theological courses of senior college grade might be con- 
ducted by various denominations on the university campus, sharing 
in many ways a common life; the Union Seminary in Hunan 
should be reorganized on this basis. The university should include 
senior college work in arts, education, library management, and 
commerce. 

IV. Fukicn 

653. Elementary Education. — See I A above. 628-632. 

654. Secondary Education. — See I A above. 633-637. No 
senior or middle schools either for boys or for girls should be 
developed for the present in North Fukien outside of Foochow, but 
the number of junior middle schools in the interior should be decid- 



382 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

edly increased. In South Fukien the Anglo-Chinese College and 
Talmage College in Amoy, and Westminster College in Chuan- 
chow should become six-year schools of the new type with strong 
normal courses in the latter two. There seems to be room for 
only one senior middle school for girls in Amoy, and it should 
have a strong teacher-training course. 

655. Normal Schools. — See Section 636. The present pro- 
vision for the training of elementary teachers in North Fukien 
is utterly inadequate in view of the large number of elementary 
schools and the size of the Christian community. The need 
should be met in Foochow either by the concentration of effort 
in existing union normal schools for boys and for girls or by 
greatly strengthening the normal courses in the middle schools. 

656. Higher Education. — For the present at least Fukien 
Christian University should conduct a junior college, and senior 
college work in arts, education and theology, with a union col- 
lege for women on some kind of affiliated basis. 

V. South China 

657. Elementary Education. — See I A above. 628-632. 

658. Secondary Education. — See I B above. 633-637. There 
are strong middle schools in Canton and Hongkong, but there is 
need of a larger number of middle schools of junior grade at 
least in the interior. Special attention is called to the lack of mid- 
dle schools in Kwangsi Province. 

659. Normal Schools. — See Section 636. The Union Normal 
School for Girls in Canton should be strengthened, as should be 
the present normal courses for boys in middle schools. There is 
special need for at least one strong institution preparing ele- 
mentary teachers in the vernacular, 

660. Higher Education. — Canton Christian College, assisted 
by the missions in the area and seeking increased Chinese sup- 
port, should maintain junior college and senior college courses in 
education, agriculture, and, perhaps, commerce and social science. 
The college department of the Union Theological Seminary should 
be transferred to the college campus. 



REGIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS 383 

661. While Christian missions have availed themselves to 
a limited extent of the privilege of cooperating with the Univer- 
sity of Hongkong by maintaining hostels, this practice could be 
advantageously extended, especially in view of the probable in- 
crease in the number of students from Christian schools. 

VI. West China 

662. Elementary Education. — See I A above. 628-632. 
There is need for an increase in the number of schools in the prov- 
inces of Kansu, Kweichow, and Yunnan. 

663. Secondary Education. — See I B above. 633-637. There 
is no Christian middle school in either Kansu or Kweichow, and but 
one, in a corner of the province, in Yunnan. A six-year school 
for boys and one for girls should be established in each of the 
three provincial capitals. 

664. Normal Schools.- — See Section 636. In Szechwan pro- 
vision is now being made for the training of teachers in the 
union normal schools for men and for women in Chengtu. In 
none of the other three provinces do we advise separate normal 
schools, but the middle schools recommended above should offer 
teacher-training courses. 

665. Higher Education. — West China Union University 
should develop its present courses in arts, science, medicine, edu- 
cation and religion. Higher education for women when devel- 
oped should be either in a coordinated college or on a coeducational 
basis. 

VII. National 

666. The scope of the China Christian Educational Asso- 
ciation should be enlarged to include the following departments : 
(a) Higher Education; (b) Elementary and Secondary Educa- 
tion; (c) Religious Education; (d) Extension and Adult Edu- 
cation. See Sections 101-114. 

667. An Institute of Educational Research should be estab- 
lished at an early date. See Sections 25 iff. 



PART VII 

THE COST OF EDUCATION AND THE RELA- 
TIVE PRIORITY OF EDUCATIONAL 
ENTERPRISES 

CHAPTER I 
THE COST OF VARIOUS TYPES OF SCHOOL ^ 

I. Preliminary Observations 

668. Plans for the realization of many of the recommenda- 
tions of the Commission will depend either upon additional funds 
or wiser use of the money now in hand. If better educational or- 
ganization be effected, and greater centralization achieved, there 
will be need for wise planning, involving knowledge of local con- 
ditions and needs, discriminating judgment as to priorities, and as 
exact ideas of probable cost as can be determined. 

669. An accurate knowledge of the costs of Christian edu- 
cation in China is hard to secure. Books are kept by varying sys- 
tems, if at all. Large items, notably foreign salaries and inci- 
dental expenses, are commonly ignored. The varied systems of 
educational control divide financial responsibility, and the system 
of subsidy by small grants takes notice of only a portion of the 
real cost. Nor is there any systematic effort to gather financial 
data. As a result, the financial experiences of various organ- 

* In this chapter all sums are expressed in Mexican dollars, worth approxi- 
mately fifty cents, gold, or two shillings at normal rate of exchange. Calculations 
are in many cases approximate, being made on the slide rule. None of the data 
include the cost of food. 

385 



386 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

izations are isolated one from the other, few mission adminis- 
trators having the advantage of being able to study intelligently 
the income and expenditure of other people engaged in essentially 
the same sort of work. 

The Commission desired to include in its report exact 
estimates of the probable cost of its various recommendations to 
the end that wise planning might result. The conditions are such, 
however, as to force an abandonment of this desire, a complete 
answer to this question involving so momentous a task as itself 
to be a proper subject for the whole inquiry of such a commis- 
sion. Instead we are citing a few cases, more or less typical, as 
a basis of discussion. There are included data concerning eighty- 
seven village schools, eighty-six middle schools (seventy-seven of 
which have higher primary schools attached), eight colleges of 
liberal arts, and a few professional schools. The data for middle 
schoojs and colleges cover a large proportion of their field and 
in our belief are reliable. The data for village schools and pro- 
fessional colleges include only a few cases, and are just as likely 
to be exceptional as typical. 

II. Specific Studies and Estimates 

670. The cost of one system of village education. 

Boys' Lower Girls' Lower Boys' Higher Girls' Higher 

Items Primary Primary Primary Primary 

Number of Schools 48 22 11 6 

Number of Teachers 5° 22 18 11 

Number of Pupils 1,103 343 i97 3i 

Number Higher Primary Pupils 164 146 
Total Annual Salaries of 

Teachers $2,606.00 $1,125.00 $1,097.00 $745.00 

Average Cost per Pupil $2.36 $3.27 $2.40 $4.21 

Average Annual Salary $52-12 $Si-i4 $60.15 $67-73 

Median Annual Salary $52.00 $4S-oo 

Paid by Mission 13% 78% 23% 80% 

671. The cost of middle schools and attached higher primary 
schools. 

a. From the questionnaires collected by Rev. H. W. 
Luce for his extensive study included in the Survey, eighty-six 



COST OF EDUCATION 387 

schools were selected at random, the only qualification being com- 
pleteness of the data desired. These are quite representative, 
being located in the provinces of Hupeh, Chekiang, Shansi, 
Szechwan, Kiangsi, Ahnwei, Chihli, Honan, Hunan, Kwangtung, 
Manchuria, Kiangsu and Shantung. Seventy-three of these 
schools have higher primary schools attached. The data consid- 
ered in the case of each school are: the amount of foreign sup- 
port ; the amount paid in tuition fees ; the total amount of foreign 
salaries paid; the total paid in Chinese salaries; the number of 
teachers, Chinese and foreign, for each type of school sepa- 
rately; and the number of pupils each in middle and higher pri- 
mary schools. 

b. It was unfortunately necessary to make some statis- 
tical computations to reveal facts not clear in the data as gathered. 
In no case were the data divided between the higher primary and 
middle school, showing the share belonging to each school sepa- 
rately. The cost of pupil's food was often included in running 
expenses. The complete cost of the foreign worker was under- 
estimated, in many cases salaries being omitted and in all cases 
no allowance being made for many of the additional charges that 
Mission Boards count upon as certain. The computations are as 
follows : 

( I ) The true cost of the school was estimated by adding 
the total cost of the foreign teachers, the total cost of the Chinese 
teachers and other expenses of operation. The cost of foreign 
workers was estimated from careful study of the practice in these 
schools and from examination of the books of mission treasurers. 
The usual estimate of the true expense of the foreign mission 
worker is twice the basic salary. Thus if married men are paid 
$3,000, the mission treasurers estimate that it will require another 
$3,000 to cover the items of rent, children's allowances, travel, 
additional furlough allowances, summer vacations, medical arid 
dental attention, education of children, insurance, and emergency 
travel and hospital care. Some mission treasurers estimate a 
total of $8,000 for districts such as Shanghai. In the case of 
unmarried men and women, the estimate is a little less than half 



388 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

that of the married men. For middle schools our estimate will 
be less than these figures, because of the large numbers of 
unmarried workers, short-term teachers and part-time assistants. 
For these reasons our estimate of the true cost of a middle school 
foreign teacher is $2,500 in boys' schools and $2,000 in girls' 
schools. Thus the true cost of foreign teachers for each school 
is determined by multiplying these figures by the number of for- 
eign teachers reported. The cost of Chinese teachers was de- 
termined by averaging the cost for all Chinese teachers in the 
particular school and multiplying this figure by the number of 
teachers either in the middle or "higher primary school as the 
case might be. It was quite impossible to determine the true 
cost of expenses of operation, such as fuel, light, janitor service, 
repairs, but nine schools for which accurate data were available, 
revealed a median of 16.5 per cent of the reported cost of for- 
eign and Chinese salaries. Inasmuch as the figure for foreign 
salaries, including more than mere salary charges, here used, is 
greater proportionately than the figure in these particular schools, 
a sum amounting to ten per cent of salary charges is added to 
cover expenses of operation. 

(2) The cost of the school divided by the number of 
pupils gives the per capita cost. 

(3) The share of Chinese support was determined by 
comparing the total of tuition fees with the total cost. When 
the tuition fees included food for the pupils, as was often the 
case, a sum representing the annual cost of food multiplied by 
the total number of boarding pupils was first deducted. 

c. In order to show the true relation of all facts it 
would be better to give them all. But the great space required 
and possible confusion, to say nothing of difficulty of comparison, 
makes this unwise. Instead we are using the median, quartiles 
and extremes to measure the central tendency and dispersion. 
Thus in the following series, indicating the size of schools, at 
first appearing at random, but ranked for the purpose of statis- 
tical treatment : 



COST OF EDUCATION 389 

121 pupils 100 pupils 66 pupils 

117 pupils 97 pupils 60 pupijs 

114 pupils 92 pupils 42 pupils 

III pupils 90 pupils 31 pupils 

no pupils 88 ptfpils 28 pupils 

105 pupils 84 pupils 2.y pupils 

103 pupils 83 pupils 21 pupils 

100 pupils 79 pupils 

five measures will give the reader a good idea of this series, even 
if the original figures are omitted. Thus the lowest is twenty- 
one, the highest one hundred and twenty-one. The school half- 
way up the line, dividing the group in two is ninety. The half-way 
point of the upper half is one hundred and five; the half-way 
point of the lower half is sixty. Thus, without the original series, 
the reader can imagine in a series of schools ranging from twenty- 
one pupils as the smallest up to one hundred and twenty-one as 
the largest, that one-fourth have one hundred and five pupils or 
more, one-half ninety or more, three-fourths sixty or more and 
that half of the schools lie between sixty and one hundred and 
five. The measure of the half-way point is called the median, 
the measure of the upper one-fourth the upper quartile (ex- 
pressed Q — 3), the measure of the lower one-fourth the lower 
quartile (expressed Q — i) and the highest and lowest, maximum 
and minimum. The advantage of these measures is that the 
typical or usual condition is shown in brief space, making com- 
parison simple. 

(i'/2. The cost of higher primary schools 

a. Six higher primary schools attached to large boys' 
middle schools. 

Number of pupils Cost per pupil 

Maximum 174 Maximum $134 

Q-3 iSi Q-3 6i 

Median in Median 32 

Q-i 78 Q-i 12 

Minimum 57 Minimum 11 

Percentage paid from foreign sources 

Maximum 92% Median 74% 

Q-3 78% Qi 35% 

Minimum minus 70% (pupils paid more than the cost of the school) 

Ratio of teachers to pupils 
Foreign i : 228 Chinese . , 1:16 



390 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

b. Forty-seven higher primary schools attached to small 
boys' middle schools : 

Number of pupils Cost per pupil 

Maximum 167 Maximum $167 

Q-3 69 Q-3 58 

Median 47 Median 35 

Q-i 30 Q-i 13 

Minimum 11 Minimum 3 

Percentage paid from foreign sources 

Maximum 116% (school paid part of food bill in addition) 

Q-3 100% Q-I 72% 

Median 92% 

Minimum minus 9% 1 (pupils paid more than cost of school) 

Ratio of teachers to pupils 
Foreign 1:112 Chinese i: 17 

c. Twenty-two higher primary classes attached to girls' 
middle schools : 

Number of pupils Cost per pupil 

Maximum 1 24 Maximum $304 

Q-3 59 Q-3 64 

Median 36 Median 50 

Q-I 18 Q-I 15 

Minimum 7 Minimum . 8 

Percentage paid from foreign sources 

Maximum 117% (school paid a part of the food bill) 

Q-3 99% Q-I 81% 

Median 90% 

Minimum minus 2% (pupils paid more than cost) 

Ratio of teachers to pupils 
Foreign 1:76 Chinese 1:12 



673. The cost of middle schools 

a. Twelve large boys' middle schools 



Number of pupils Cost per pupil 

Maximum 257 Maximum $182 

Q-3 198 Q-3 117 

Median 148 Median 94 

Q-I 117 Q-I 79 

Minimum 107 Minimum 38 

Percentage paid from foreign sources 

Maximum 92% Median 74% 

Q-3 78% Q-I ■:: 35% 

Minimum minus 70% 1 (pupils paid more than cost) 



COST OF EDUCATION 39i 

Ratio of teachers to pupils 
Foreign J : 36 Chinese 1:14 

b. Fifty-one small boys' middle schools: 

Number of pupils Cost per pupil 

Maximum . . . .- 97 Maximum $792 

Q-3 58 Q-3 201 

Median 42 Median 135 

Q-i 22 Q-i 78 

Minimum 3 Minimum 22 

Percentage paid from foreign sources 

Maximum 1 16% Median 92% 

Q-3 100% Q-I 72% 

Minimum minus 9% (pupils paid more than cost) 

Ratio of teachers to pupils 
Foreign i : 26 Chinese 1:10 

c. Twenty-three girls' middle schools : 

Number of pupils Cost per pupil 

Maximum 90 Maximum $640 

Q-3 36 Q-3 442 

Median 22 Median 180 

Q-I 6 Q-I ISO 

Minimum 4 Minimum 26 

Percentage paid from foreign sources 

Maximum 117% (school paid a part of food bill) 

Q-3 99% Q-I 81% 

Median 90% 

Minimum minus 2% (pupils paid more than cost) 

Ratio of teachers to pupils 
Foreign 1:16 Chinese 1:13 

674. Salaries of teachers in higher primary and middle 
schools. — In expressing salaries, central tendencies rather than 
extreme limits are cited, these data being more expressive of 
real conditions. It is unfortunate that only averages of salaries 
were given in the questionnaires, so that these data represent 
central tendencies not of the salaries themselves, but of the aver- 
ages of the salaries for each school. The highest and lowest 
average salaries are also given to yield an idea of the limits. 



39i! CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Monthly Salaries of Teachers in Ninety-five Higher 
Primary arid Middle Schools. — 

Large Boys' Small Boys' Girls' 

Middle Middle Middle 

Schools Schools Schools 

Teachers of Highest $85 $60 $50 

Science and Q-3 66 35 40 

Mathematics Median 52 25 30 

Q-i 29 18 12 

Lowest 16 8 7 

Teachers of Highest $85 $70 $96 

English Q-3 75 50 46 

Median 48 30 30 

Q-i 30 22 20 

Lowest -II 6 10 

Teachers of Highest $55 $50 $60 

Chinese Q-3 42 30 30 

Median 32 20 20 

Q-I 22 14 II 

Lowest 19 8 9 

Teachers of Highest $60 $40 $.22 

Other Subjects Q-3 42 25 16 

Median 25 17 1 1 

Q-I 14 10 8 

Lowest 9 3 4 

675. The cost of higher education. — The data for the cost 
of higher education were secured from questionnaires sent by 
the Commission to a few of the higher institutions of learning. 
Included in the returns are data from St. John's, Manchuria, 
Canton Christian, Shantung, Peking, Nanking, and Hangchow 
colleges. While most of these institutions include several dif- 
ferent schools and colleges, the data were so distributed as to 
approximate the actual cost of each college or school, adminis- 
trative expenses being distributed in proportion to the number of 
the foreign staff, rather than in proportion to enrollment. The 
average salary of the foreign teacher is $3,112.50, that of the 
Chinese teacher $1,096. These figures do not comprise the total 
cost to mission budgets, as we shall show later, but they include 
more of the cost than was originally shown in the middle school 
questionnaires. The food of students is not included in the fol- 
lowing figures. 



COST OF EDUCATION 

, Senior and Colleges 

Junior of 

Colleges Medicine 

No. of institutions 7 2 

No. of students 1,051 124 

No. of foreign faculty . . . 63.65 24 

No. of Chinese faculty . . . 43-55 10 
Faculty not designated ... 28 

Cost per student $364.00 $1,639.00 % 

Paid from foreign sources 74.2% 97-5% 



393 



Colleges 


Colleges 


of 


of Agri- 


Theology 


culture 


2 


2 


57 


46 


lo.s 


6.65 


5-5 


I 


1,021.00 


$1,440.00 


100% 


34% 



676. Summaries. — 

a. Grouping the data just considered, and remembering 
the original Hmits of the investigation, some striking summaries 
may be drawn. 

In the various types of schools cited, lo teachers teach: 

220 boys in village primary schools 

201 boys in village higher primary schools 

192 boys in higher primary classes in small middle schools 

161 girls in higher primary village schools 

156 girls in primary village schools 

124 girls in higher primary classes in middle schools 

107 boys in large middle schools 

98 students in junior and senior college 

89 boys in higher primary classes in large middle schools 

64 boys in small middle schools 

62 girls in middle schools 

60 students in colleges of agriculture 

36 students in colleges of medicine 

35 students in colleges of theology 

b. In the various types of schools cited, $10,000 from 
all sources gives one year of schooling to : 



4,230 boys in lower primary village schools 
4,170 boys in higher primary village schools 
3,330 girls in lower primary village schools 
2,370 girls in higher primary village schools 
316 boys in higher primary classes in large middle schools 
288 boys in higher primary classes in small middle schools 
200 girls in higher primary classes in middle schools 
106 boys in large middle schools 
74 boys in small middle schools 
55 girls in middle schools 
29 students in junior and senior college 
10 students in theological college 
7 students in agricultural college 
6 students in medical college 



394 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

c. In the various types of schools cited, $10,000 coming 
from foreign sources stimulates further support giving one year 
of Christian schooling to : 

32,600 boys in primary village schools 
18,220 boys in higher primary village schools 
3,920 girls in primary village schools 
2,960 girls in higher primary village schools 
422 boys in higher primary classes in large middle schools 
312 boys in higher primary classes in small middle schools 
15s girls in higher primary classes in middle schools 
145 boys in large middle schools 
80 boys in small middle schools 
61 girls in middle schools 
40 students in junior and senior college 
24 students of agriculture 
10 students of theology 
6 students of medicine 

d. So far as the original data are concerned, these com- 
parisons are highly significant. The medical education in one 
area is actually 5,000 times as expensive per student as the pri- 
mary education in another area, considering the contributions of 
the missions. This may indicate a just relationship, or it may 
mean a too expensive medical education or a too cheap primary 
education. 

e. There is a sharp advance in the cost of education in 
the higher primary classes in city middle schools as compared 
with similar primary work in the villages. 

f. The boys' middle school enrolling about 150 pupils 
is much more economical than the boys' middle school one-third 
the size. Its total cost per pupil is one-third less, it receives a 
greater proportion of the expense from student fees and it pays 
its Chinese teachers nearly twice as much. The same amount of 
money goes nearly twice as far and the results are probably 
better. Whether there is a causal relation or not is not estab- 
lished. 

g. The extraordinary variations in the cost of all higher 
primary work and of girls' middle schools is due to variation 
in the numbers of the foreign teaching stafif. Some of these 
schools have no foreign teachers at all, one has two for 15 stu- 
dents (a cost of $266 per student), and one higher primary 



COST OF EDUCATION 395 

school for boys has two foreign teachers having exclusive charge 
of 28 pupils. 

h. It costs distinctly more to educate girls than boys, 
both in total expense, and, with one exception, in mission sub- 
sidy. This is due in part to the pioneer stage of the work, 

i. The higher cost of theological education is due in 
part to the small number of students. The high per capita cost 
of agriculture is the result, in part, of the large amount of re- 
search and extension work carried on by the faculty, 

677, Typical middle school costs. — Another method of sum- 
marizing the data given above is to describe the schools that fall 
within the limits of the middle fifty per cent in each case. These 
are good indications of present cost, 

a. The large middle school has from 120 to 200 pupils, 
generally about 150. On the basis of 150 students it costs roughly 
from $12,000 to $17,000, usually about $14,000, It has four 
foreign teachers and ten Chinese. The tuition charges vary from 
$17 to $75, the medium amount being about $24. This means 
that the missions furnish from $1000 to $14,500, usually about 
$9,500. 

b. The smaller middle school has from 20 to 60 pupils, 
generally about 50, On the basis of 50 students it has two for- 
eign and five Chinese teachers, costing from $4,000 to $10,000, 
usually about $7,000. The tuition charges vary from nothing at 
all to $70, usually about $11. This means that the missions fur- 
nish as much as $10,000 or run the school free of cost. The 
usual amount furnished is $6,500, 

c. The middle school for girls has from 5 to 35 pupils, 
generally about 25. On the basis of 25 students it has one or 
two foreign teachers and two Chinese, costing from $3,800 to 
$11,000, usually about $4,500. The tuition charges vary from 
$1.50 to $23, usually about $18. This means that the missions 
furnish as much at $10,000 or as little as $3,100, generally about 
$4,000, 

678, Typical costs of higher primary classes attached to mid- 
dle schools. — 



396 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

a. The higher primary school attached to the large mid- 
dle school has from 75 to 150 pupils, usually about no. On 
the basis of no pupils it costs roughly from $1,300 to $7,000, 
usually about $3,500. It generally has seven Chinese teachers 
and half the time of a foreigner. The tuition charges vary from 
$2.50 to $40, the usual charge being $7.50. This means that the 
missions may furnish as much as $6,500, or may run the school 
for a profit, but in general furnish about $2,600. 

b. The higher primary school attached to the small 
middle school for boys enrolls from 30 to 70 pupils, generally 
about 50. It usually has three Chinese teachers, rarely the time 
of a foreigner. The total cost varies from $650 to $2,750 on the 
basis of 50 pupils, the usual amount being $1,750. The tuition 
charges vary from nothing at all to $16, the usual amount being 
about $3. This means that the missions may furnish as much as 
$2,600, nothing at all, or make money ; in general the amount fur- 
nished is $1,600. 

c. The higher primary school attached to the girls' mid- 
dle school has an enrollment of 18 to 60 pupils, generally about 
35. It usually has three Chinese and two foreign teachers. The 
total cost on the basis of 35 students varies from $550 to $2,200, 
generally being about $1,750. The tuition charges vary from 
practically nothing to $6, the usual charge being $5. Thus the 
missions may furnish as much as $2,200, as little as $400, in gen- 
eral about $1,600. 

679. The "zone of safety." — These estimates of higher pri- 
mary and middle school costs indicate the present tendencies, 
throwing out the upper and lower quarters of each distribution. 
Other things being equal, the larger the school, the lower should 
be the per capita cost ; the more wealthy the community served, 
the higher the tuition charge ; the more vocational the curriculum, 
the higher the cost and the higher the tuition charge ; the lower 
the cost of living, the lower the cost and tuition charge ; the 
greater the financial return for the student after leaving school, 
the greater the tuition charge ; the more fashionable the school, the 
greater the tuition charge. These factors all tend to justify vari- 



COST OF EDUCATION 397 

ation from the central tendency. If a school varies distinctly 
from the norms given, then careful inquiry should be made for 
the reasons. The school may be too meagre or too expensive, 
or the present standards of 86 schools may be wrong. This is 
the reason why the limits of the middle fifty per cent constitute 
the "zone of safety," 

680. Typical costs of higher education. — 

a. The fact that the Christian universities in China 
have practically a uniform salary schedule simplifies the question 
of estimating college expense. If we determine the usual salary 
paid teachers, the amount paid in items not covered, and the 
ratio of salaries to total expense for various types of institutions, 
we may estimate the probable cost of institutions of this grade. 

For 106.8 foreign professors in Christian colleges and 
universities, the budgets indicate that $332,414 was paid in sala- 
ries. This is $3,112.50 per person. At the same time, 73.05 
Chinese professors were paid $80,065 or $1,096 per person. 

Estimating operating expenses in the institutions repre- 
sented by these professors, and distributing administrative ex- 
penses on the basis outlined above, we were able to determine the 
per cent that the total of Chinese and foreign salaries bore to the 
total expense. For junior and senior colleges of liberal arts the 
median per cent was 69.25, for colleges of theology 80, for col- 
leges of agriculture 55.5, and for colleges of medicine 39. 

The ratio of foreign professors to Chinese is about 
6 to 4 on the faculties of the higher institutions. 

If Ave can determine the number of professors needed 
for a college, take the number of foreign professors and multiply 
by $3,112.50, and divide by .6925; take the number of Chinese 
professors, multiply by $1,096, and divide by .6925 ; and then 
add to this figure a sum equal to the additional expenses of mis- 
sion college professors not noted in the usual budget, such as 
house rent, medical attendance, insurance, summer allowances, we 
may estimate the total cost of the college. This sum is estimated 
at $1,200 for the foreign members and $300 for the Chinese. 



398 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Studying the enrollment in ii Christian colleges and 
universities, we estimate that of every loo students, we may 
expect 42 in the first year, 23 in the second, 18 in the third, and 
17 in the fourth. 

b. On this basis, determining the probable cost of a 
minimum college of liberal arts of lOO students, we should need, 
with the smallest possible program, two sections in the freshman 
year, one in the sophomore year, one in the junior year and one 
in the senior. This would require a total of 100 teaching hours. 
If a member of a faculty customarily teaches 15 hours a week, 
if the normal ratio of faculty to students is i to 10 (see above), 
ten teachers would allow 150 teaching hours, or a margin of 50 
hours for electives. We should then need to allow a margin for 
absence on furloughs, one year in six, and for language study, one 
or two years at the beginning of work in China. Twenty-five 
per cent additional faculty would be needed to provide for this. 
The cost for this college would be determined as follows : 6 foreign 
professors at $3,112.50, divided by .6925 (the percentage of total 
cost in liberal arts college borne by instruction), to which sum is 
added $1,200 multiplied by 6; added to this would be the product 
of $1,096 multiplied by 4 (for the Chinese staff), divided by 
.6925, to which is added $300 multiplied by 4; to which is added 
$3,112.50 multiplied by 1.5 (25 per cent of salary of foreign staff to 
care for furlough and language study). The total is: 



$3,112, 


•50 


X 6 


= 


$18,675. 


00 






;i8,67S- 


00 


-^ .6925 


= 


26,967 


.00 






:26,g(>j. 


00 
.00 


+ $7,200 
X 4 


- 


34,167. 


00 


$34,167, 


,00 


$1,096. 


$4,384. 


,00 




$4,384. 


,00 


-^ .6925 


= 


6,331 


.00 






$6,331. 


,00 


4- $1,200 


= 


7.531- 


00 


7,531. 


,00 


$3,112. 


■ 50 


X 1.5 


Total 


4,669. 


00 


4,669. 


,00 




$46,367. 


00 



This figure of $46,367 would provide a minimum college for 100 
students at the present rate, giving instruction and maintenance, 
housing for faculty, and administration expenses, including sala- 



COST OF EDUCATION 399 

ries of president and secretary. It would not include food for 
students. This charge of $464 per student is higher than the 
norm, due to the small number of students and the inclusion of 
charges not ordinarily accounted for in Christian college budgets. 

c. With a college of 150 students we should expect 65 
students in the first year, 32 in the second, 27 in the third, and 
25 in the fourth. It would be possible for this institution to be 
handled by a faculty of the same size as a college of 100 students ; 
it could be done better by the addition of one instructor. This, 
of course, would not allow wide election of studies by the student, 
but with the specialization suggested in the Chapter on Collegiate 
Education, this would not be necessary. Following the above 
method, with 7 foreign professors and 4 Chinese we find the total 
figure to be $52,862, or $352 per student. If we were to use 
6 foreign instructors and 5 Chinese, the total amount would be 
$48,269, or $322 per student. 

d. For a liberal arts college of 300 students we should 
expect approximately 126 freshmen, 69 sophomores, 54 juniors 
and 51 seniors. Allowing a minimum of 4 sections for the fresh- 
men, 3 for the sophomores, 2 for the juniors and 2 for the seniors, 
this would require 220 teaching hours. Allowing 50 per cent 
additional for electives, this would require 330 hours or the time 
of 22 teaching members of the faculty. Estimating 13 foreign 
teachers and 9 Chinese, the total cost of the institution would be 
about $101,000, or a cost of about $330 per student. If this 
institution were part of a university, narrowly restricting its work 
to commerce, teacher-training or the like, the number of the fac- 
ulty might be reduced to 15 or 16, making the cost under $250 
a student. 

e. The college of agriculture, doing about the same 
amount of research and extension work as at present, would cost 
about $72,000, allowing 8 foreign and 6 Chinese professors to 
teach 100 students. 

f. The college of theology for any number up to 75 
students would cost about $30,000. 

g. A college of medicine for 100 students, and hos- 



400 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

pital, with 15 foreign and 10 Chinese professors would cost about 
$177,000. 

h. In estimating the cost of women's colleges we may 
use a lower base. The salary of women is about $1,500, and $700 
additional would cover the extra costs to Mission Boards not 
usually included in college budgets. The proportion of foreign 
teachers is also greater, being about 4 to i. Thus for a college 
of 100 students with a faculty of 8 foreign women and 2 Chi- 
nese our calculations would be : 

$1,500.00 X 8 = $12,000.00 

$12,000.00 -f- .6925 =: $17,328.00 

$17,328.00 + 5.600 =: $22,928.00 $22,928.00 

$900.00 (salary for Chinese) X 2 =z $1,800.00 
$1,800.00 -^ .6925 = $2,599.00 

$1,500.00 X 2 — $3,000.00 $5,599.00 



$28,527.00 



This would be about $300 per student, including ten members 
of the teaching staflf, a president and a secretary. 

681. From the point of view of finance, the small college is 
always expensive. Probably no four year college can be run 
economically for less than 150 students, nor a junior college for 
less than 85. A careful study of the data cited here, and a thor- 
ough working over of the budgets, should convince the admin- 
istrators of Christian colleges and universities of the great waste 
attendant upon conducting so many small institutions. 

682. Probable costs of higher education. — The estimates of 
college expense noted above are based upon present practices. It 
should be noted, however, that if Christian higher education is 
to maintain its lead, expenses must increase. Professional edu- 
cation of any kind is costly. New equipment must be added, 
libraries augmented, sections multiplied. This will demand larger 
expenditure. Foreign and Chinese salaries in some cases must 
be increased. While the figure of $1,096, plus $300, is fair pay 
for services rendered by many of the Chinese staff, considering 
the permanence, security and costs of living, it nevertheless re- 
mains true that highly competent men cannot be retained at this 



COST OF EDUCATION 401 

rate. One government institution, giving salaries moderate in 
comparison with other government higher institutions, pays its 
best men from $1,800 to $2,640. The first-class Christian col- 
lege should in the future count upon having its best Chinese teach- 
ers of such a high order as to be entitled to about $1,000 more 
per man than is now being paid. Our estimates should therefore 
be advanced about 10 per cent to allow for increased efficiency, 
and about $1,000 multiplied by the number of Chinese department 
heads, to care for this increase. 

683. The reorganized estimates are: 

General college 4 years 100 students $55,000.00 

General college 4 years 150 students 62,000.00 

General college 4 years 300 students 110,000.00 

Junior college 2 years 85 students 37,000.00 

Senior College 2 years 65 students 25,000.00 

Junior college 2 years 200 students 70,000.00 

Senior college 2 years 100 students 40,000.00 

Agricultural college .... 4 years 100 students 84,000.00 

Theological college 2-3 years 75 students 36,000.00 

Medical college 4 years 100 students 204,000.00 

Women's college 4 years 100 students 34,000.00 

684. The danger of a study of this kind is that the university 
executive or the board of trustees shall consider wide variation 
from these norms as a sign of weakness. Only a variation that is 
not accounted for should be so considered. The value of careful 
comparison of costs is not the securing of uniformity, but rather 
the justification of zvise and the elimination of unwarranted dif- 
ferences. 

The chief obstacles to economy are : small numbers of 
students ; too large percentage of foreign faculty members ; unnec- 
essary multiplication of sections ; several weak departments when 
a few strong ones could be maintained ; and several weak colleges 
when one or two excellent ones could be provided. 

III. hnplications of this Study 

685. The following implications may be derived from this 
study of college finance : 

a. There are too many colleges at present supported by 
the Christian forces in China. Their justification must rest upon 



402 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

Other than financial grounds, for much better work could be pro- 
vided at less cost if there was greater unification, not to say- 
abandonment of some of the enterprises. 

b. The practice of assigning mission members to 
university faculties rather than appropriating money, paying sal- 
aries through the usual mission channels, is expensive in the long 
run and not warranted by sound finance. University executives, 
not having control of faculty finance, are unable to distribute 
their finances, sometimes having plenty of men but not enough 
money. Thus competent Chinese teachers are sometimes lost to 
Christian universities and colleges, because sufficient funds are 
not available. The financing of certain large middle schools con- 
nected with higher institutions reveals an ingenious method of 
surmounting this difficulty in part. The missions contribute the 
foreign faculty, the pupils pay large tuition fees covering more 
than the expenses, and the profits are used as ready cash for the 
higher departments. In reality it is a conversion of men into 
money. 

c. The notion that "I would found an institution where 
any person may study any subject," may have been all right for 
Cornell, but it is an expensive ambition. Too many institutions 
are extravagant in having too many electives and several pro- 
fessors more than the minimum needed, when the money might 
better be spent upon books, equipment, better salaries, or scholar- 
ships. Financial consideration would demand concentration into 
a few sections and a small number of departments. This is also 
sound educational policy. 

d. The recommendation for regional universities with 
rigid concentration of work is sound financially. The plan will 
be successful only to the degree to which this concentration is 
used to reduce sections and faculties, allowing the boards of con- 
trol to use the money thus released, to secure better equipment, 
libraries and teachers. 

686. On file with the secretary of the China Christian 
Educational Association is a set of blanks that may be used as 
a guide in the keeping of books, that better financial data may be 



COST OF EDUCATION 403 

available in the future. It is recommended that the secretaries 
of Christian colleges and universities study these blanks and 
model their bookkeeping upon them, 

687. It should be carefully noted that the financial data in 
this chapter are intended to give the actual cost to the missions of 
the educational work in China, omitting only the cost of administra- 
tion at home. When comparisons with data in any particular 
school are made, the additional costs as here explained should 
be added. Otherwise the first reaction to these estimates will be 
surprise at the large sums involved. 

688. If the data cited in this chapter are as accurate for pri- 
mary schools and professional colleges as they are for higher 
primary and middle schools and colleges of liberal arts, they 
should furnish food for thought. Is it better to have 32,600 boys 
poorly trained in village schools for one year, 143 boys in a middle 
school, 61 girls in a middle school, or 6 students in a medical 
school? If small middle schools are expensive, will unification 
bring better results; or does size have nothing to do with it? 
Shall we spend more money for higher education, when so many 
more students can be served in primary schools? Or shall we 
concentrate our efforts? Does the inexpensiveness of primary 
schools mean weakness? Does the relatively high cost of pro- 
fessional work mean efficiency? What should be the norms for 
all types of work? What should be the relative proportion of 
effort in each grade of schooling? We can raise many more 
questions than we can answer. 

689. One highly important service of the proposed Institute 
of Educational Research will be the gathering of accurate data 
on all such financial problems of the schools as we have here been 
considering : evaluating and interpreting them, and presenting to 
the educational authorities the conclusions derived therefrom. It 
should aid materially in determining the educational programs 
of the future. 



CHAPTER II 

RECOMMENDATIONS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING 
TO EXPENSE INVOLVED 

690. In this Chapter and the following the recommendations 
of the Commission in the body of the Report are brought together 
and classified in two ways : ( i ) according to the probable ex- 
pense involved in carrying the recommendations into effect, and 
(2) according to the order of their urgency, 

691. In the present Chapter the recommendations are grouped 
into three classes according to the increase in costs involved. The 
first group includes adjustments and developments which can be 
made without involving any additional appropriations by Missions 
or Boards. The second group includes the developments which 
can be carreid out by a moderate increase in appropriations. In 
the third group are placed the advances recommended which will 
involve largely increased expenditures. 

All of these developments of the first group and as 
many as possible of the second and third groups should begin at 
once. Otiiers must necessarily await the receipt of large funds. 

I. Developments which can be made without Increase 
in Appropriations 

A. General 

692. A provincial board of education in every provincial 
area. See Sections 107, 108, 148. 

693. Officers of administration for each provincial board, 
.including two secretaries, one Chinese and one foreign. 

404 



RECOMMENDATIONS ACCORDING TO EXPENSE 405 

694. Supervisors for each district. See Sections 151 b, 246. 
The expenses involved in these three sections can be 

met (i) by fee or registration by the schools; (2) by allocating 
missionaries already on the field and Chinese teachers now em- 
ployed, to the important administrative positions; (3) by read- 
justment in present school appropriations, through closing weak 
and inefficient schools or decreasing the grants-in-aid. 

The missions and Boards are reminded that the appro- 
priations necessary to cover the salary and expenses of a new mis- 
sionary would be sufficient to cover the salaries and expenses of 
five or more trained Chinese supervisors. 

B. Elementary Education 

695. Model schools. — The missions can make no larger con- 
tribution in the field of elementary education than by the estab- 
lishment of model schools. This can be done by the concentration 
of a considerable portion of mission appropriations for the schools 
of a district upon one model school. This should stimulate local 
initiative and should lead to the contribution of much larger funds 
from the Chinese Christian community. See Section 153. 

C. Secondary Education 

696. The organisation of middle scJiools. — Some of the pres- 
ent junior colleges and some of the four year middle schools con- 
nected with colleges should be reorganized into six year middle 
schools. In the one case buildings and faculty will be already 
provided and no increase in cost will be required. Any possible 
reduction in expenses, however, should be absorbed in the cost 
of improvement in quality. In the other case the two years which 
are added should be taken, one from the higher primary school 
and one from the junior college, except where the total college 
course, including all years above the middle school, is but four 
years in length, in which case one year should be taken from the 
higher primary school and one year added outright. Adjustments 
of appropriations should be possible thus obviating increase in 



4o6 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

costs. Some urban schools could secure larger local support with- 
out compromising their Christian character, and mission funds 
thus released could be used for other schools. 

697. Normal courses in middle schools. — Normal courses 
should be introduced into many middle schools. Even though large 
increases were involved the immediate provision for adequate 
training of primary teachers would be justified by the urgency of 
the need. In some cases, however, the additional staff required 
for a normal course in an existing middle school could be met 
by adjustments or at least at small additional cost. It might be 
possible to create a union normal school without added expense 
by combining two middle schools into one, utilizing one of the 
plants thus released, and securing the necessary additional members 
of the staff by allocation of missionaries from other tasks. 

698. Junior middle schools. — A marked increase in the num- 
ber of junior middle schools is recommended. Many of the 
present higher primary schools can be raised to junior middle 
schools with small additional cost, and this can be met by reduc- 
ing some of the present four year middle schools to junior middle 
schools and by replacing some missionary teachers by Chinese. 
Many junior middle schools can be maintained without seeking 
larger appropriations from the Boards. 

699. Occupational courses in middle schools. — Adjustments 
in courses now offered would make possible additions to the staff 
required for the introduction of such occupational courses as do 
not need expensive plant or apparatus. 

D. Higher Education 

700. Reorganisation. — With a view to improving the quality 
and effectiveness of the education given and to further economy 
through the elimination of costly duplication of work, the Com- 
mission recommends the reorganization of existing colleges and 
universities in North China, East China, and Central China, into 
regional universities. This will not involve any immediate addi- 
tional expense, so far as existing plants and faculties are con- 



RECOMMENDATIONS ACCORDING TO EXPENSE 407 

cerned. Any funds which are conserved through the reorganiza- 
tion should be used in enlarging the Hbraries, equipping the 
laboratories, o.r securing better trained teachers. The plan assumes 
the carrying out of present building programmes in so far as they 
are endorsed by the senates or advisory councils of the respective 



areas. 



II. Developments which can he made by Moderate Increase 
in Appropriations 

A. Elementary Education 

701. Additions to the present appropriations for elementary 
schools should be applied to increasing and developing model 
schools in as many districts as possible, in securing additional 
supervisors, and in training teachers in service. 



B. Secondary Education 

702. Reorganisation of middle schools. — While some six year 
middle schools can be established by reorganization as suggested 
in Section 696, yet any increase in the number of schools of this 
type will certainly require additional funds. They should not, 
however, prove excessively large, since the number of trained 
Chinese teachers available is increasing, and the number of mis- 
sionary teachers will not need to be enlarged. 

703. Normal schools. — While possibly a few normal schools 
can be organized and normal courses can be introduced into many 
middle schools without much increase in cost, as set forth in 
Section 697, yet any adequate effort to meet the urgent demands 
of the situation will require increased appropriations. Normal 
school work is always expensive, but there can be no more profit- 
able investment of funds. 

704. Junior middle schools. — It is suggested in Section 698 
that many junior middle schools can be established without in- 
creased appropriations. We must face the fact, however, that 
the establishment of some of these schools will necessarily involve 



4o8 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

new appropriations until they are well under way, when increased 
receipts from tuition should care for them. 

705. Occupational courses in middle schools. — While some 
readjustments will make possible additions to the staff without 
serious additional cost, the general introduction into all middle 
schools of occupational courses will involve increased expense. 
Investment at this point, however, is essential. 

706. Bible schools. — The Bible training schools are relatively 
inexpensive, but the uniting of several schools in one would often 
result in added efficiency with little increase of cost. 

C. Higher Education 

707. Developments at existing institutions. — The Commis- 
sion recommends that at several points new developments be made 
which will add to the efficiency of the colleges. All of these can 
be undertaken at small additional cost. 

(i) A school of literature for the training of writers 
should be established at Peking University. 

(2) The school of law at Shanghai should be developed 
into a school of law and political science, as a department of the 
regional university. 

(3) A department of commerce and social science should 
be inaugurated at Canton Christian College, and this institution 
which has hitherto been financed independently of the Boards 
should henceforth receive their financial support. 

(4) The initial steps toward the inauguration of a union 
university of Central China should be taken in the near future. 

(5) The West China Union University should under- 
take the higher education of women. 

(6) Extension work, especially for adults should be 
developed at several points. 



RECOMMENDATIONS ACCORDING TO EXPENSE 409 

III. Developments which will involve Largely Increased 
Expenditures 

A. General 

708. The China Christian Educational Association. If the 
plans for advance which the Commission is recommending are to 
be carried out, it is essential that the China Christian Educational 
Association be strengthened and its staff considerably increased. 

709. The Institute of Educational Research. The Commis- 
sion has pointed out (Sections 100, 251-258) the necessity of 
establishing an institution which shall make careful inevestigation 
of educational problems as the basis for the future educational pro- 
gram. This institution stands second in the list of large advances. 

710. The Institute of Economic and Social Research. In 
Section 377 the Commission has pointed out the necessity of the 
Christian forces making careful investigation of the economic 
developments in China in order that the new social order may be 
dominated by Christian ideals. An institute to undertake such 
study is needed at once. 

B. Elementary Education 

711. Ne%v elementary schools. New schools should be 
opened, especially in unoccupied or sparsely occupied areas. Those 
schools, naturally, call for a larger pr£)portion of aid from the cen- 
tral funds than those in the areas that have been cultivated for a 
longer time. Among the relatively unoccupied areas are the 
provinces of Kansu, Kwangsi, Yunnan, Kweichow, and Shensi. 
The provision of educational facilities for girls in most parts 
of the country is still far behind that for boys, and many more 
schools will be needed. 

C. Secondary Education 

712. New six-year middle schools. A number of strong 
middle schools in strategic cities are called for, and their establish- 



410 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

ment will require large initial expense. Especially in a new center it 
is desirable to commence well, with first-class teachers and good 
equipment. The cost of later developments will probably be offset 
by increased returns from tuition fees. 

New schools, both for boys and girls, are imperatively 
needed in several provinces. 

713. Agricultural and industrial arts schools. The Commis- 
sion recommends the establishment at an early date of at least 
two schools of this type. Though expensive, they are urgently 
needed. 

714. New normal schools. Some of the normal schools 
which we have recommended must be of a higher type and will 
involve comparatively large expense, but their inauguration is one 
of the pressing needs of the Christian educational system. 

715. Junior middle schools. While some such schools can be 
provided without new appropriations (Section 698), and some 
with small additional appropriations (Section 705), yet the in- 
stallation of an adequate number will probably exceed these 
limits. 

D. Higher Education 

716. The development of existing institutions. The recom- 
mendations of the Commission in the field of higher education look 
not to the increase in the number of colleges or universities, but to 
the union or coordination of existing institutions and to the 
strengthening of their work. The advances recommended, which 
call in a limited number of cases for the creation of new depart- 
ments of work, but for the most part for the improvement of 
those which already exist, are discussed in detail in Chapters 
III-XIV of Part II, and are hsted below in Section 717. 



CHAPTER III 

RECOMMENDATIONS INVOLVING LARGE EXPENSE 
CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE ORDER 
OF URGENCY 

717. In this Chapter the recommendations of the Commis- 
sion for the inauguration of new work which will involve large 
expenditures are summarized in the order in which they are recom- 
mended for preferential development. As in the previous Chap- 
ter they are divided into educational groups. The groups stand in 
the order of preference as groups and the items in each group are 
likewise in order of preference within the group, but the devel- 
opment of work in the various groups will necessarily be carried 
on to a considerable extent simultaneously. 

I. General 

1. The strengthening of the China Christian Educa- 
tional Association. 

2. The establishment of an Institute of Educational 
Research. 

3. The establishment of an Institute of Economic and 
Social Research. 



II. Elementary and Secondary Education 

T. The establishment of normal schools and the devel- 
opment of normal courses in middle schools. 

2. The multiplication of junior middle schools. 
4" 



412 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN CHINA 

3, The reorganization of middle schools on the six 
year basis and an increase in their numbers. 

4. The development of middle schools of the agricul- 
tural and industrial arts type. 

3. The opening of elementary schools in unoccupied 
regions. 

III. Higher Education 

1. The completion of the building programs of insti- 
tutions having no permanent plant : Peking University, Ginling 
College, Fukien Christian University. 

2. The founding of a college of school administration 
at Nanking. 

3. The equipment of the North China Union Women's 
Medical College at Tsinan. 

4. The establishment of a school of commerce and in- 
dustrial organization at Shanghai. 

5. The completion of the medical school at Tsinan. 

6. The foundation and equipment of the East China 
Union Medical School at Shanghai. 

7. The erection of buildings approved for colleges in 
East China, South China, West China. 

8. The development of a university of Central China. 

9. The founding of a school of public opinion (univer- 
sity extension), at Shanghai. 

10. The development of the School of Medicine of 
West China. 

II. The erection of buildings for a college for women 
of Fukien Christian University (if proposition recommended is 
approved). 

12. The erection of buildings for a college for women 
of the West China Union University. 

13. The purchase of land and the erection of buildings 
for a central unit of the University of East China. 

718. Although it is beyond the province of the Commission 
to give detailed estimates, yet approximate totals have been at'- 



RECOMMENDATIONS— ORDER OF URGENCY 413 

tempted, based upon careful studies of actual costs and itemized 
calculations for enlargement. Allowance has been made for in- 
come on the field from fees and other forms of local support, this 
applying especially to maintenance. The capital outlay and main- 
tenance are both planned roughly for a period of ten years begin- 
ning with 1922. These totals do not include expenditures which 
are involved in the normal development of existing work but pro- 
vide for the enlargements recommended in this report. 

The Commission estimates that in order to carry out this 
program of advance, it will require a capital outlay for land and 
buildings of $7,000,000, gold, and when the plan is completed 
an additional annual expenditure for maintenance of $1,000,000. 



APPENDIX I 

STATISTICAL TABLES 
Table I. Christian Elementary and Secondary Schools 



SCHOOLS 

province i^°^^^ f'^^'' MiddleTotal 
Frimary Primary 

North China 

Manchuria 225 39 16 280 

Chihli 316 44 24 384 

Shantung 942 142 40 1,124 

Shansi 139 26 7 172 

Shensi 91 9 i loi 

East China 

Kiangsu 354 120 51 525 

Chekiang 283 53 19 355 

Anhwei 183 39 u 235 

Kiangsi 159 24 6 189 

Central China 

Honan 257 45 10 312 

Hupeh 288 58 17 363 

Hunan 223 56 14 293 

FUKIEN 852 96 20 968 

South China 

Kwangtung .... 675 122 37 834 

Kwangsi 49 6 2 57 

West China 

Kansu 18 4 .. 22 

Szechwan 408 59 15 482 

Kweichow 84 8 . . 92 

Yunnan 61 6 i 68 

Total 5,609 956 291 6,856 

Special Adminis- 
trative Districts: 
Mongolia and 

Sunkiang 30 6 . . 36 

Grand Total.. 5,639 962 291 6,892 

(From the Survey Volume, with minor 



STUDENTS 



Lower Higher 
Primary Primary 



Middle Total 



6,185 


89s 


521 


7,601 


8,554 


3,188 


1,953 


13,69s 


17,083 


2,782 


1,489 


21.354 


3.468 


SOS 


267 


4,240 


1,949 


274 


23 


2,246 


11,550 


5,015 


3,323 


19,888 


7.872 


1,746 


974 


10,592 


4,318 


1,016 


270 


5,604 


3,814 


986 


265 


5-065 


5.850 


982 


275 


7,107 


8,049 


2,185 


852 


11,086 


6,432 


1,594 


659 


8,68s 


25,568 


4,612 


1,510 


31,690 


19,057 


4,510 


1,929 


25.496 


1,262 


234 


•7 


1,513 


423 


63 




4S6 


15,954 


1,83s 


875 


18,664 


1,609 


189 




1.798 


1,782 


224 


10 


2,016 


150,779 


32,835 


15,212 


198,826 



803 70 .. 873 

151.582 32,905 15,212 199,699 
corrections, page 302.) 



415 



4i6 APPENDICES 

TABLE II 
SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

Kind of Institution Institutions Students % of Total 

Kindergarten 139 4,324 2.01 

Lower Primary 5,637 151,582 70-74 

Higher Primary 962 32,899 iS-35 

Middle School 291 15,213 7.10 

Normal 48 612 .28 

College 16 2,017 -98 

Bible School 100 2,659 1-24 

Theological 13 391 .18 

Law I 27 ■ .01 

Medical 10 563 .26 

Nurses' Training 106 1,380 .64 

Schools for the Blind 29 ' 794 .37 

Schools for Deaf Mutes .... 5 60 .03 

Orphanages 25 i,733 -So 

Grand Total 7,382 214,254 

TABLE III 

SUMMARY OF GOVERNMENT EDUCATION 

Kind of Institution Institutions 

Lower Primary 118,852 

Higher Primary 7,862 

Middle 444 

Normal 211 

Industrial 2,166 

College and Professional . . 94 

Higher Normal 10 

Total 129,639 4,294,181 



APPENDIX II. 



FINDINGS OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF 

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATED EDUCATIONAL 

ASSOCIATIONS (CHINESE) 

The National Associated Educational Associations met on Octo- 
ber 27, 1921, in Canton. Thirty-five representatives were present. A radical 
change in the educational system was recommended. 



Students 


% 


of Total 


3,700,604 




86.2 


386,358 




9.0 


69,770 




1.6 


27,905^ 






81,814 




2.5 


25.373 1 




.6 


2,357^ 







APPENDICES 417 



Guiding Principles 

The six principles that guided the representatives in deciding on 
the new system are : 

(a) To be in accordance with the republican form of govern- 
ment and to develop the spirit of democratic education ; 

(b) To be in harmony with the requirements of social evo- 
lution ; 

(c) To develop the individuality of the youths and to allow 
them freedom of choice ; 

(d) To pay attention to the financial ability of the people; 

(e) To allow room for alteration in the different localities; 

(f) To aim at the facility for widespread education. 

Features of the New Systevt 

1. The whole system is divided into three periods, Primary 
Education, Secondary Education, and Higher Education. 

2. The division into periods is made according to the physical 
and mental developments of the children ; i. e., the period for Primary 
Education extends from six to twelve years of age, that for Secondary 
Education, from twelve to eighteen, and that for Higher Education, from 
eighteen to twenty- four. 

3. In view of the extensiveness of the country and differences 
in local conditions and requirements, the system has provided for flexibility 
in establishing schools and courses. 

4. Education must center upon the children themselves, there- 
fore in an educational system the individuality and the intellectual capacity 
of the children must be taken into consideration; hence in this system, 
highei and secondary education employ the elective method in determining 
their curriculum, and in primary education an elastic method has also 
been provided in connection with the promotion from class to class. 

Tlie Primary Education Period 

1. The primary schools are established with the view of extend- 
ing popular education and training for citizenship, and not merely as a 
preparation for secondary education. 

2. The divisions into higher primary and lower primary will 
be discarded, and hereafter the primary schools will take the form of a 
single grade. 

3. The length of primary education is six years, from six 
years of age to twelve; but it may be divided into two sections, the first 
four years, and the second two years. Those who prefer to establish a 



4i8 APPENDICES 

school giving instruction only in the first section may be allowed to do so. 

4. In the curriculum of the primary school, after the fourth 
school year, according to local conditions, special courses for preparation 
for vocation may be added. 

5. Compulsory education is temporarily fixed to be four years. 
The different provinces and special districts, however, must prolong this 
period after it has been well spread. 

6. The school age for compulsory education may be determined 
by the different provinces and districts themselves, according to local 
conditions. 

7. The Kindergarten is to receive children under six years 
of age. 

8. Continuation schools (or make-up schools) must be pro- 
vided for those who have not been able to receive proper education in 
their early age. 

The Secondary Education Period 

1. This section of secondary education may be provided by one 
school from beginning to end, or by several schools together. 

2. This section of secondary education may be provided in 
part, if in any secondary school district the local financial condition does 
not allow the complete provision of the entire section. 

3. The elective system is to be employed in the secondary 
education. 

4. The amount of requirements for vocational training or 
common knowledge is different with different subjects. The elective sys- 
tem does not draw a sharp line in the relation between ordinary and voca- 
tional courses. In this system, the secondary schools are divided into two 
sections of three years each with the third year of the first section as a 
brief intermediate stopping point in the whole section, both for the sake 
of convenience in teaching and for the natural division in the children's 
physical and mental development. Those courses which are more con- 
venient to be divided into two sections of four and two years or of two 
and four years may be so divided according to circumstances. 

5. The higher and lower secondary course may be provided 
by two schools separately. 

The Higher Education Period 

1. Universities are named in opposition to primary schools. A 
university with only a single course may also be called one; and not 
necessarily a university with a combination of certain courses may then 
be so called. 

2. University education is to extend from four to six years 
according to the nature of the courses. 



APPENDICES 419 

3. The university will have no preparatory course ; candidates 
for a university, education must be graduates of the higher secondary 
schools, or with the corresponding qualifications. 

4. The students of a university must at least learn two for- 
eign languages. 

5. The graduates from a university may enter the university 
research course ; the length of this course is not fixed. 

6. Universities may provide special courses. Persons who wish 
to investigate any special subject may join these courses. The number of 
years is not fixed. 

7. College education is to extend from three to four years. 
Graduates from colleges will receive the same treatment as a four-year 
graduate of a university. 

8. The colleges will have no preparatory course. Qualifications 
for entrance will be the same as that of the university. 

Normal Education 

1. The normal secondary schools will cover six years, the 
first three years consisting of ordinary courses, and the second three 
years, of normal courses. 

2. The normal secondary schools may provide for six years 
of ertirely normal courses. They may also provide three years normal 
courses for lower secondary graduates. Ordinary secondary schools, 
which are able to provide also normal courses, may be allowed to do so. 

3. Higher normal colleges will be of four years. The quali- 
fications for entrance are the same as those of the university. 

4. The graduates of the higher normal may enter the university 
research course. 

5. Universities may provide for higher normal courses. The 
higher normal colleges will continue to be independent 

6. In beginning to promote compulsory education, normal lectur- 
ing halls may be provided according to local requirements. 

7. In order to promote vocational training, special courses for 
training vocational teachers may be provided in the vocational courses of 
the higher secondary schools. 



INDEX 



Adult Education, 409-418, 454, 455; im- 
portance of, 409; goal of, 410; oppor- 
tunities of, 410; problems of, 411; 
Chinese government activity in, 412; 
Christian share in uncoordinated, 412; 
methods of, 413; two great objectives 
of, 413; university extension contribu- 
tion to, 416; proper organization of, 
418. 

Agricultural and Industrial Schools, 713, 
717- 

Agricultural Colleges: where located at 
present, 342; ideal location of, 355, 
356; their specific task, 357; the range 
of the curriculum, 357; research and 
experiment service, 3S8; extension 
service, 359; cost of, 680. 

Agricultural Education, 342-369, 717; his- 
tory of, 342; statistics of, in China, 
343; need of, 345, 346; relation to 
needs of Christian Church, 347-350; 
scope of, 351; results to be gained by, 
352; comprehensive program of, 353- 
367; work of graduates, 356; ultimate 
results to be hoped for, 361, 362; 
education of girls and women in, 363; 
community Sunday-schools, 364; its 
value in cultural training, 365; the 
training of agriciiltural missionaries, 
366; cooperation with the government, 
368; principal objectives of, 369; 
schools needed, 713, 717. 

Agricultural Middle School, 360; its great 
importance in promoting the Christian 
occupation of China, 360; Hampton 
suggests its type, 360. 

.\gricultural Missionaries: how trained, 
366. 

Agricultural Missions: argument for, 344- 
346. ^ 

American Institute of Sacred Literatura, 
578. 

Architecture of School Buildings, 579, 580; 
progress in adaption to Chinese needs, 
579; architecture as a part of the 
college curriculum, 580. 



Association of Christian Colleges and Uni- 
versities, 212, 213, 224, 567. 

Bible Schools for Men, 706; their variety, 
269; their specific task, 285; reduction 
of their number desirable, 286; their 
relation to religious education in the 
home, 497; recommendations concern- 
ing, 637- 

Bible Training Schools for Women, 271; 
number and quality of, 287; grades, 
of, 288; training of sociar workers in, 
292. 

Bible Women : their usefulness in com- 
munity evangelization, 492. 

Boards of Christian Education: their terri- 
torial range provincial, 107; their 
organization, 107; their functions, 
108; their function in relation to 
elementary education, 148, 149. 

Boone University at Wuchang, 219, 576, 
577; its library training course, 576; 
its extension service, 577. 

Boys' Middle School: relative economy of, 
676; types of, 162-166. 

Boy Scouts, 505. 

British Chambers of Commerce in China: 
proposal for subsidizing secondary 
schools, 549. 

Business Training: in the boys' middle 
school, 166. 

Canton, 328; medical history of, 328; 
recommendations against medical work 
in, 328. 

Canton Christian College, 660; recommen- 
dations concerning, 222, 328; college 
of agriculture at, 342, 356; coeduca- 
tional, 433; department of commerce 
and social science, 703. 

Central Boarding Elementary Schools, 134. 

Central China, 219, 220, 641, 649-652; 
recommendations regarding higher edu- 
cation in, 219. 652; the program of 
its development, 220; agricultural 
development in, 335; need for an 



422 



INDEX 



agricultural middle school, 360; med- 
ical school in, 323, 324, 296. 

Central China Union (Federated) Univer- 
sity, 219, 707. 

Certificates for Teachers, 245. 

Changsha (Yale-in-China), 219, 323; future 
adjustment of medical work at, 324; 
* coeducational in pre-medical course, 
433. 

Chengtu: West China Union University, 
220, 322. 

China: political condition to-day, 19; new 
life of, lis; Christianity's opportunity 
in, 116; its challenge to the West, 118. 

China Christian Educational Association, 
112, 193, 212, 231, 24s, 344, 601, 666, 
686, 708, 717; its four departments, 
112; department of middle schools, 193; 
its department of higher education, 212; 
to give degrees, 245 ; resolution rei- 
garding its promotion of agricultural 
missions, 344; Council of Adult Edu- 
cation, 418; Council of Agricultural 
Education, 367. 

China Educational Commission: its organi- 
zation, 1-6; contributions to its budget, 
6; its personnel, 7; its itinerary, 10- 
13; its instructions, 14, is; its policy, 
16. 

China Medical Board, 301, 320, 331. 

China Medical Commission of the Rocke- 
feller Foundation, 294, 308, 32s, 327, 
329, 334. 

China Mission Year Book, 344. 

China Missionary Medical Association, 01. 

Chinese People: their profound interest in 
education, 20; finer characteristics of, 
71; characteristics which hinder theif 
progress, 72; religious characteristics 
of, 72; defects of family life, 72. 

Chinese Language: unification and nation- 
alization of, S58. 

Christian College: cost of, 680, 681-683. 

Christian Community: what it demands 
from education, 93. 

Christian Education in China : definition 
of, 17; standards of, 22; need of 
being thoroughly indigenous, 25; its 
peculiar importance, 24, 48; history 
of Protestant activity, 43-48; history 
of Roman Catholic activity, 49-59; 
Brown, R. S., founder of first Protes- 
tant Christian school, 43; statistics of, 
46; limitations of, 66-86; permanence 



of, 68-76; necessity for developing, 
69; aims of, 7s, 78, 93; eventually to 
be wholly Chinese, 76; its specific and 
immediate task, 77-83; its great ob- 
jective — the development of a strong 
Christian community, 81, S94; the 
scope of, 84-100, 585; the breadth of, 
85; a cooperative task, loi, 102; 
factors in further development of, 
104; its great opportunities to-day, 
117; aims of, 582-584; spirit of, 582, 
583; control of, 584; permanence of, 
589; adaption of, to China, 590; share 
of Chinese in control, 591; Institute 
of Educational Research, 592; Insti- 
tute of Economic and Social Research, 
S92; coeducational training, 598; co- 
operation with government education, 
599 ; standardization of schools, 602; 
opportunities of extension, 603 ; its 
four-fold distinctive contribution, 617; 
its thorough coordination necessary, 
618; its adequate support, 620-622; 
cost of, 669; obstacles to economical 
management, 684; methods of proper 
institutional bookkeeping, 686. 

Christian Education: aims of, 66; its 
insistence on intellectual freedom, 95; 
quality to be preferred to quantity, 
97; organization of, 101-114; National 
Board of, 112; four conditions of 
highest efficiency, 226. 

Christian Institute of Economic Research, 
416. 

Christian Schools: conditions of publio 
approval, 70; standards of, 93. 

Christian Schools for Girls: compared with 
similar government schools, 424; the 
problem of teachers, 435; the problem 
of adequate equipment, 436; the ham- 
pering influence of Chinese conser- 
vatism, 437; scanty resources, 437; 
a cooperative development desirable, 
438; government attention to, 434. 

Christian University for East China : 
Union Medical School of, 218, 329- 
333; should be open to women, 339; 
federated organization probable, 216, 
217; component members of, 218; 
organization of, 218; departments of 
instruction in, 218; law school planned, 
384- 

Church, Christian, in China : in the hands 
of older laymen, 552; requires energy 



INDEX 



423 



and initiative of younger men, 552; 
methods of attracting such, 553. 

Civilization of the West: how harmful to 
China, 73; what it should contribute 
to Chinese nationalism, 74. 

Coeducation in China, 129, 145, 456; in 
college work, 433, 434, 446, 451, 458; 
in elementary training, 129, 437; in 
middle school work, 457. 

College Entrance Board: its function and 
organization, 210, 224. 

Colleges (Christian): their aims, 194; 
their distribution in China, 195; 
modeled after Western type, 196; 
rivalled by government colleges, 196; 
opportunity of, 197; standard size of, 
198; weaknesses of, from Chinese 
point of view, 200; religious instruc- 
tion in, 201; how related to primary, 
elementary, and middle schools, 204; 
division into junior and senior col- 
leges, 204, 609; recommendations re- 
garding curricula, 204; research 
work in, inadvisable, 205 ; research 
fellowships for graduates, 205 ; pro- 
fessional courses in, 206, 609; their 
cooperative organization, 210; sur- 
passing importance of, 224; future 
policy regarding, 608. 

Colleges of Education: conditions of effi- 
ciency, 241; number proposed, 242; 
varied demands upon, 244; intended to 
train teachers for middle schools, 244; 
colleges of senior and junior grade 
desirable, 242, 243; available for 
training principals where necessary, 
250; needed for training women as 
teachers, 446. 

College of Agriculture, 356-359; its cost, 
680. 

Colleges for Women : their task to train 
Christian workers as well as teachers, 
288; the founding of Yenching, Gin- 
ling, and South China colleges, 432; 
their demand for highly trained 
Chinese women as teachers, 439; re- 
quire strengthening rather than multi- 
plication, 458. 

College of School Administration, 247-249; 
conditions of entrance, 247; curricu- 
lum, 247; affiliated practice schools, 
248; intended especially for the train- 
ing of principals and supervisors, 
247-250. 



Colleges of Theology: cost of, 680; kinds 
of, 269, 270; cooperation in developing, 
272; enrolment, 273; requirements for 
admission to, 278; should be related 
to a luiiversity plan, 280; number 
limited, 2S3; qualifications of faculty, 
284; student aid in, 289; responsibility 
for religious education, 497. 

Collegiate Education, 194-224. 

Community Development, 615, 616. 

Community Sunday-Schools, 364. 

Conference on Christian Ethics, Economics, 
and Citizenship of Great Britain, 370. 

Conservation of Christian Personalities in 
the Church, 551-553. 

Continuation Schools, 414, 504. 

Cooperation Among Denominations: in 
middle schools, 179. 

Cooperation in Christian Education, Inter- 
national, 546-550; principles under- 
lying, S46; adjustments necessary, 547; 
the differences in national educa- 
tional methods and ideals, 548; fed- 
erated scheme of union most desir- 
able, S49. 

Cost of Schools, 668-689; basis of com- 
putation, 671, 680; higher primary, 
672, 678; middle schools, 673, 677; 
boys' middle schools, 673; girls' middle, 
schools, 673, 677; salaries of teachers, 
679; summaries, 676; girls' schools 
cost more, 676. 

Council of Adult Education: its personnel, 
418. 

Council of Agricultural Education, 367. 

Council of Health Education, 317, 512. 

Directors of Education, 604. 

District School Board: its purpose and 

functions, 151. 
Domestic Science in China: questions to 

be studied, 440. 

East China, 641, 645, 646; recommenda- 
tions regarding higher education in, 
216-218, 648; agricultural develop- 
ment in, 355 ; recommendations con- 
cerning normal schools in, 647. 

East China Union University, 333. 

Economic and Social Research, Institute 
of (see Institute of Economic and 
Social Research). 

Economy in Christian Education: obstacles 
to, 684. 

Education: the supreme significance of. 



424 



INDEX 



74; religious (.see Religious Educa- 
tion) ; special problems of, 528-580. 

Education, Adult (see Adult Education). 

Education for Social Workers, 292. 

Education in China: new efficient system 
demanded, 20; government schools 
progressing in efficiency, 21; begin- 
ning of a complete modernization, zy; 
statistics of, 38; based on Japanese 
system, 39; new scheme proposed, 
40, 41; government and mission schools 
compared, 49; attitude of Chinese 
people toward, 70; rapid development 
of, in resources and quality, 76. 

Education in the Social Application of 
Christianity, 370-377; importance of, 
370-371; conditions of success, 372; 
how made effective, 376; methods of 
organized research, 377. 

Education of Women, 419-458, 454, 455; 
education in ancient China, 420; his- 
tory of beginnings of modern educa- 
tion, 421-423; proportion of girls and 
boys in Christian schools, 425; impor- 
tance of the middle school, 426; ideals 
of the government, 423; self-support, 
427; teacher training, 288, 430, 439; 
physical training school at Shanghai, 
431; education of adults, 454, 455; 
colleges for women in China, 432. 

Education of Writers, 498-500; the literary 
revolution in China, 499 ; literature of 
unusual importance in China, 498; a 
school of literature greatly needed, 
500; problem of producing books, 561. 

Education, Special Problems of, 528-580. 

Eaucational Missionaries: qualifications of, 
537; demanding a jury of experts, 
536; training of, 538; where to be 
found, 539; policy of provisional ap- 
pointment of, 540; future, after years 
of service, 545; mastery of Chinese 
language, 559. 

Educational Policies in Japan, 69. 

Educational Reform Society, 42. 

Educational Research: Institute of, 100 
(see Institute for Educational Re- 
search). 

Education of Non-Chinese: by Roman 
Catholics, 58. 

Educational Work of the Christian Asso- 
ciations, 501-510; Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association, symbol of, 501; 
Young Women's Christian Association, 



symbol of, 501; its general scope and 
purpose, 501; training of physical 
directors, and recreation leaders, 502; 
share in health education, 503; contri- 
bution to general education, 504; 
supplementary educational work, 505; 
methods for moulding public opinion, 
504; religious education, 507-510; 
work among students in non-Christian 
schools, 507; national students' con- 
ferences, 509; literature, sio. 

Educated Women in China: their varied 
opportunities, 441-443; organizations 
of, 444; importance of, 445; tasks to 
be undertaken by, 446-453. 

Efficiency in Education: four conditions of, 
226. 

Elementary Education: purpose of, 31; 
responsibility for establishing, 31; 
general treatment of, 1 19-155, 629- 
632; statistics of, 123; special needs 
for Christian schools, 124; school 
buildings, 135; character and training 
of teachers, 141-143; objectives of, 
136; details of the curriculum, 137; 
plan of organization for, 147; regional 
recommendations regarding, 629-632, 
642, 645, 649, 653, 657; in West 
China, 662; need of model schools, 
695. 701; new schools, 711; cost of, 
672-674. 

Elementary Schools: necessity of, 120; 
proper control of, 121; standards of 
such schools, 125. 

Elementary Schools (Christian) number and 
distribution of, 126; proportion of suc- 
cess in, 128; failure to hold all 
children, 127; coeducation in, 129 
and 145; wise distribution of, 130; 
types of, 134; school buildings, 135; 
objectives of, 136; curriculum of, 137; 
religious education in, 138; occupa- 
tional training in, 139; hygienic con- 
ditions in, 140; health training in, 
140; training of teachers, 141-143, 605; 
plan of organization for, 147; financ- 
ing of, 152-155; proper supervision of, 
144-145; cultivation of the love of 
reading in, 573-575; recommendations 
regarding provincial and district or- 
ganization, 629-632; cost of, 670, 672, 
676; model schools, 695. 

Engineering Schools: arrangement for 
establishing, 402-405. 



INDEX 



425 



Exchange Lectureships, 626. 
Extension Teaching,, 707. 

Fellowships for Research for College 
Graduates, 205. 

First Schools for Girls in China, 421; 
courses of study, 421; Chinese private 
schools for girls, 422. 

Foochow: Union Medical College, 327. 

Forestry: School of, for all China, 356; 
courses in forestry offered at Yale in 
China, 343. 

Fukien: Christian University, 218, 656, 
717; agricultural development in, 355; 
need for an agricultural middle school, 
360; recommendations concerning edu- 
cation in, 641, 653-656. 

Furlough Study by Missionaries, 541. 

Ginling College for Women (Nanking) : 
opened in 1915, 432; its degree, 432; 
enrolment, 433; should become a part 
of the proposed University for East 
China, 218, 648; its building program 
approved, 717. 

Girl Reserves, 505. 

Government Education in China, 25-42; 
organization of, 29; statistics, 38, 
720; cooperation of Christian forces 
with, desirable, 87, 105, 125; grants- 
in-aid to Christian schools, 89; its 
standard educational program, 105. 

Government Grants for Education, 89 ; 
for elementary schools, 125. 

Government Schools for Girls, 623; com- 
pared with Christian Schools, 424; 
statistics of, 434. 

Grants-in-Aid Government: Conditions of 
acceptance, 89. 

Guilds in China, 379; their power to 
punish, 379; their power of social 
control, 391. 

Hackett Medical School for Women, 328, 

334. 339- 
Hampton Institute. Va. : a type of the 

agricultural middle school, 360. 
Hangchow Christian College, 218, 648. 
Harvard Medical School of China, 331. 
Higher Educational Senate: functions of, 

no, 210-220. 
Higher Educational Work: six areas of, 

III, 224, 619, 66s; history of, 194- 

19s; principles which should govern 



future development, 204; recommen- 
dations concerning, 638-640, 648, 652, 
656, 660, 665; costs of, 675. 

Higher Normal Schocl for Women: 
Peking, 439. 

Hongkong University: its proposed rela- 
tionship to the British Mission sec- 
ondary schools in China, 549, 550; 
discussion of this relationship, 549. 

Hongkong University School of Medicine, 
328. 

Hospitals in China: their number, 299; 
their work of training, 299, 312-317; 
their varied character and equipment, 
300; training of nurses at, 314, 315; 
policy regarding hospitals under mis- 
sion management in the future, 613. 

Incorporated University for East China, 
648. 

Industrial Education, 713, 717; purpose 
of, 36; ably promoted by Roman Cath- 
olics, 57; importance of, 96; place of, 
in religious education, 614. 

Industrial Education and Engineering, 
387-408; place of, in Christian educa- 
tion, 387-389; agencies for bettering 
the industrial system, 389-393; in 
middle schools, 159, 166, 399; signifi- 
cance of, 400. 

Industrialism in China: its rapid develop- 
ment, 166; relations with the Chris- 
tian church, 166, 387-408; industrial 
fellowship at Shanghai, 377. 

Institute for Educational Research, 100, 
251-258, 497, 667, 689, 709, 717. 

Institute of Economic and Social Re- 
search, 377, 555, 709, 717. 

International Cooperation in Christian 
Education, 546-550; {see Cooperation 
in Christian Education). 

Internship in Hospitals, 313. 

Japan : Educational Policy of the Govern- 
ment in, 69. 

Junior College of Education, 243, 244; 
available for the training of primary 
supervisors, 250. 

Junior Middle Schools, 634, 698, 704, 715, 
717. 

Kindergartens: opportunity of, 133; need 
for, 133. 

Labor Movement in China, 417. 



426 



INDEX 



Language Problem in Education, 558-562; 
the educational missionary's mastery 
of Chinese, 559; cultural and prac- 
tical values of English, 560; de- 
sirableness of bilingual usage, 560; 
need of special text books, 561; the 
new "national language," 562. 

Law and Political Science: education in, 
378-386, 614. 

Law, Chinese: how different from that of 
Europe and America, 378. 

Legal Procedure in China: peculiarities 
of, 378-385. 

Librarian: training of, 576; course offered 
at Boone University, 576. 

Library Budget, 575. 

Libraries, School and College, S 72-5 78; 
importance for all educational institu- 
tions, 572; equipment of, 573; provi- 
sions for reference books, 564; ex- 
change of books, 575; proper library 
budget, 575; the training of librarians, 
576; extension work, 577. 

Local School Board: its purpose and func- 
tions, 150. 

Medical Education, 293-341, 610; history 
of, in China, 293, 294; remarkable 
development of, 301, 318; number of 
medical schools, 295 ; location of medi- 
cal schools, 296; enrollment, 297; 
equipment of medical schools, 298; 
hospitals in China, 299, 300; scope of, 
305-307; training in public health, 
309-311; future policy regarding pre- 
ventive medicine, 309; specific recom- 
mendations for each region, 320-333, 
644, 665; coeducation desirable, 333, 
336, 338; medical colleges for women, 
334. 335 ; schools of dentistry, 340, 
341; cost of medical education, 613, 
676, 683. 

Medical Missions in China: beginnings 
of, 293; proper aims of, 303, 304; 
present day expression of, in China, 
299. 

Medical School of Shantung Christian 
University, 320, 321. 

Medical Schools: proper number of, in 
China, 198; number of, 295; loca- 
tion of, 295, 296; enrollment of, 297; 
equipment of, 298; future policy re- 
garding, 613; cost of, 680, 683. 

Middle Schools (Christian), 643, 696, 702, 



717; general aim of, 32; supported 
by each province, 32; insufficiently 
maintained at present, 32; signal im- 
portance of, in scheme of Christian 
education, 92, 156-158, 606; compared 
with colleges and universities, 158; 
organization of, 158; specific aims of, 
159. 183-189; distribution of, 160; 
curriculum, 161, 182-185, types of 
middle schools for boys, 162-166; the 
most desirable type, 168; management 
of, 163; coeducational training in, 
166; sources of students, 166; middle 
schools for girls, 174-178; suitable 
training for girls, 175; recommenda- 
tions regarding, 193, 606; occupa- 
tional courses in, 705; cost of, 671. 

Middle Schools for Girls, 174-178, 633; 
types, to be developed, 178, 643; cur- 
riculum of, 175-177; teacher training 
in, 176, 636; plans for, 633, 643, 
654, 658, 663, 712; cost of, 673, 677. 

Middle School of Agriculture 360. 

Mills Memorial School for Deaf Mutes: 
Chef 00, 518. 

Ministry in China: need of a thorough 
training of candidates, 274; difficul- 
ties of securing high grade men, 275; 
better compensation essential, 276. 

Mission Architectural Bureau, 580. 

Missionary Education, 65-67; motives com- 
pelling development, 65 ; various aims 
of, 66; growing Chinese participation 
of Chinese church in, 67. 

Missionary Educators: training of, 263- 
265. 

Missionary Specialization, 540. 

Model Schools: elementary, 695. 

Modern Missionary Enterprise: various 
motives emphasized by, 64; place of 
education in, 65. 

Mothers' Clubs, 455. 

Moukden: medical school at, 325, 326. 

Moukden Junior College, 215. 

Nan Kai College: Tientsin, 434. 

Nanking Theological Seminary, 218, 648. 

Nanking University: College of Agricul- 
ture and Forestry, 342, 356, 375, 640, 
648. 

National Associated Educational Associa- 
tions : their provision for a new sys- 
tem of education in China, 39, 306; 
annual meeting of, 39, 42. 



INDEX 



427 



National Board of Christian Education: 
how organized, 112; its specific duties, 
113. 566, 624.* 

National Christian Conference of 1922: 
interested in agriculture, 344. 

National Christian Student Movement, 
S08. 

Normal Education: types of, 35. 

Normal Middle Schools, 167, 177, 236, 
237; available to train supervisors un- 
familiar with English, 250; conditions 
of efficiency, 236; co-education a pos- 
sibility, 236; their number, 237; train- 
ing of girls in, 176, 430; normal 
courses in middle schools, 697. 

Normal Schools for Elementary Teachers, 
647, 651, 655, 659, 664, 703, 714, 
717; conditions of efficiency, 236; 
gradual establishing of, 236; simplest 
form of these schools, 239. 

Normal Teaching: in middle schools, 698, 
717. 

North China, 641, 642; recommendations 
regarding higher education in, 215, 
644; agricultural development in, 
355; need for an agricultural middle 
school, 360; recommendations concern- 
ing secondary education in, 643. 

North China Union Medical College for 
Women, 334, 337, 644, 717. 

Nurses: training of, 314, 313. 

Occupational Education: a part of the 
Christian program, 93, 598; in ele- 
mentary schools, 139; in middle 
schools, 166, 170-172, 186, 635, 705. 

Orphanages, 516. 

Pastor, the Chinese: given insufficient 
recognition and meagre compensation, 
275; training need for, 282. 

Peking Academy, 643. 

Peking National University, 434. 

Peking University Junior College, 215. 

Peking Union Medical College, 294, 296, 
299, 305, 320; adapted to research 
work, 307, 375 ; its pre-medical school, 
30s; open to women, 336. 

Peking University, 215, 434, 439; agri- 
cultural experiment station, 342; im- 
portance of, 356; school of litera- 
ture, 500; school of literature, 707; 
building program of, 717. 

Pharmacy, Schools of, 308. 



Physical and Health Education, 51 1-5 14; 
need of proper attention to health of 
students, 511; equal need of health 
education, 512; methods of community 
service, 512; importance of athletics, 
513; education of physical defectives, 
515-518. 

Physical Training School at Shanghai, 
431. 

Pre-Medical Education: where given, 305; 
scope of, 305, 306; share of medical 
schools in, 306. 

Prepamtion of the Educational Missionary, 
528-545; importance of, 528; failure 
to insist upon, 529; professional train- 
ing important, 531, 537; educational 
leadership passing to the Chinese, 
532; adequate spiritual equipment es- 
sential, 533, 542; allocation of spe- 
cific tasks desirable, 534; adequate 
general training essential, 535; fur- 
lough studies, S41; training of the 
educational missionary, 538; his early 
training on the field, 544, 559. 

Preventive Medicine, Training in, 309. 

Primary School Teachers: qualities of the 
good teacher, 235. 

Privately Supported Education: the num- 
ber of such schools, 61, 62; statistics 
of, 62; Amoy University, 62; Nan 
Kai College at Tientsin, 62; signifi- 
cance of, 69. 

Professional Education: purpose of, 34; 
varieties of, 34, 610; necessary to 
Christian program, 93; 610. 

Protestant Christian Education, 34-48; ef- 
fect of Boxer Movement, 44; com- 
pared with Roman Catholic efforts, 
58; statistics of, 63. 

Provincial Boards of Education, 107-110, 
148, 151, 566, 624, 629, 692; how 
created, 107; secretaries of, 693. 

Provincial Education Associations, no. 

Provisional Appointment of Educational 
Missionaries, 540. 

Public Health Education, 309-311; as a 
hospital task, 317. 

Reading Rooms: their importance in educa- 
tion, 573. 
Reference Libraries, 574. 
Regional Recommendations, 627-667. 
Regional Surveys, 555. 
Regional Universities, 685. 



428 



INDEX 



Religious Education: strongly emphasized 
by Roman Catholics, 56; in the ele- 
mentary schools, 138; in Christian 
schools for girls, 177; in the theologi- 
cal schools, 291, 459-497; definition 
of, 459; great importance of, 460, 461, 
473; its fundamental purpose, 462; 
importance as an educational problem, 
463-465, 612; fundamental principles 
of, 466-469; methods of character 
building, 470-472; through the pulpit, 
474; through a community forum, 
475; week-day religious education, 
481-490; through the Sunday-Schools, 
477, 482; in the non-Christian home, 
491-497; requiring earnest and ade- 
quate consideration, 612. 

Religious Education in the Home: need 
of cultivation, 491; given largely by 
Bible Women, 492; in non-Christian 
homes, 492; its opportunity in the 
Christian home, 493; how promoted, 
494-497. 

Religious Training of the Educational Mis- 
sionary, 542. 

Research in Education: research fellow- 
ship for college graduates, 205 ; defini- 
tion of, 554; scope of, 554; undertaken 
by, 554; Institute of Educational Re- 
search, 100, 205, 251-258, 497, 555; 
Institute of Economic and Social Re- 
search, 205, 377, 555; organization of, 
SS6. 

Research Work: in medicine, 307. 

Roman Catholic Christian Education: 
difficulty of classification, 49; stress 
laid upon the education of orphans, 
51; wide range of, 52; statistics of, 
53> 54. 63; importance given to 
religious education, 53; comparison 
with Protestant education, 58; handi- 
caps of, 59. 

Rural Education: in the elementary 
schools, 353, 615. 

St. John's University, 218, 648; medical 

school of, 331, 332. 
Salaries of Chinese Workers: unduly 

lovv, 552- 
Salaries of Teachers: foreign college 

teachers, 675, 680; Chinese teachers, 

675, 680. 
School Administration, College of, 247- 

249. 



School Architecture, 579-580. (See Archi- 
tecture of School Buildings.) 

Schools of Commerce and Industry, 614. 

Schools for Deaf -Mutes, 518. 

Schools for Foreign Born Children, 518- 
527; their number and location, 522, 

523- 

Schools for Teacher Training, 604. 

Schools for the Blind, 517. 

Science: China's need of, 74. 

Secondary Education, 156-193, 633-637, 
643, 646, 650, 654, 658, 663; new 
schools, 712. 

Settlements, Industrial: where desirable, 
377; their functions, 377. 

Shanghai, 329-333; a natural medical cen- 
ter, 329; history of medical work in, 
331; proposed coeducational medical 
school, 333, 339; the proposed uni- 
versity, 648, 707, 717; industrial fel- 
lowship established, 377. 

Shanghai Baptist College, 218; coeduca- 
tional, 433. 

Shanghai Training School for Physical 
Directors (Y.W.C.A), 88, 502, 514. 

Shanghai University : teaching of law at, 
384, 648; school of law at, 384, 648, 
707; school of public opinion, 707; 
school of commerce, 707; East China 
Medical School, 717. 

Shansi Junior College, 215. 

Shantung Christian University, 215; its 
medical school, 321, 336, 337; training 
institute, 455. 

Short Term Missionaries, 540. 

Social Service, 373. 

Social Workers, Education for, 292. {See 
Education for Social Workers.) 

Sociological Research: its field in China, 

375- 

Society for Promoting Female Education 
in the East, 421. 

Soochow University, 218, 648. 

South China, 432; recommendations con- 
cerning education in, 641; 657-661. 

South China College, Foochow, 432. 

Southeastern University, Nanking, 434. 

Special Problems of Education, 528-580. 

Student Aid: principles of, 289; method 
of applying, 290. 

Students in China: why lost to the church, 
552. 

Students for the Ministry: the wisest 
way to give them help, 289. 



INDEX 



429 



Student Teachers Volunteer Movement, 234. 

Summary of Principles and Recommenda- 
tions, 581-626. 

Suiiimer School for Christian Workers, 
570. 

Summer School for Preachers, 569- 

Summer School of Education for Ad- 
vanced Students, 565. 

Summer Schools for Teachers in Service, 
567. 

Summer Schools and Institutes, 563-371; 
difficulties to be faced, 564; summer 
schools of education, 565; teachers' 
lo-day institutes, 566; college summer 
courses, 567 ; schools for Christian 
Workers, 569, 570. 

Sunday-Schools in China: types of, 477; 
limitations of, 478, 479; training of 
adults, 480. 

Supervision in Education: its importance, 
260; illustrated in Philippines, 260; 
for elementary schools, 711. 

Supervisors, District, 151, 246, 694. 

Survey of Education in China : proposed 
by China Christian Educational Asso- 
ciation, 3; favored by Mission Boards 
conducting work in China, 4. 

Teachers : recruited largely from middle 
school graduates, 166; with imperfect 
professional training, 228. 

Teachers College of Columbia, 565. 

Teachers Institutes, 261, 566. 

Teacher Training: elementary teachers, 
141-143, 228; middle school teachers, 
229, 240-244; government provision 
for, 230; training of supervisors, 231, 
246; sentiment against professional 
training, 233; conditions to be met, 
234; training of primary teachers, 
235-239; certificates and degrees, 245; 
in girls' middle schools, 430; aims of, 
60s, 644; recommendations concern- 
ing teacher-training schools, 636. 

Technicians, Training of, 316. 

Tests and Examinations: British and 
American systems compared, 548. 

"The New Education," 562. 

Theological Education, 266-293; history 
of, 266-268; various types of schools 
for men, 269, 270, 611; number of 
schools, 272; enrolment, 273; relation 
of college graduates to middle school 
graduates, 273; requirements for ad- 



mission to, 278; university setting of, 
280; appropriate curriculum of, 278- 
282; theological faculties, 281; new 
institutions not needed, 283; a proper 
theological organization, 284; coeduca- 
tional, 288; training of Christian 
workers, 291; training of social work- 
ers, 292. 

Theological Seminaries: of the Protestant 
churches, 268, 272; of the Roman 
Catholic church, 53, 55, 56; their re- 
lation to religious education in the 
home, 497; their place in higher 
education, 610, 611, 644, 648, 665; 
their relative cost, 676, 680, 683. 

Tientsin Anglo-Chinese College, 644, 

Tong, T. I., of Shanghai Baptist College: 
his work for illiteratss, 412. 

Town and City Elementary Schools, 134. 

Training for Citizenship, 373-375. 

Training in Religious Education: by the 
Christian Associations, 507-510. 

Training School for Physical Directors at 
Shanghai, 88, 502. 

Tsinan Institute: great value of, 455. 

Tsinan: Shantung Christian University, 
321; medical school of the University, 
321, 337; training institute, 455. 

Union College for Women at Peking, 432. 

Union Language Schools, 544. 

Union Medical College, Foochow, 327. 

Union Normal School for Boys, Wuchang, 
651. 

Union Normal School for Girls, Canton, 
659- 

Union Seminary of Hunan, 652. 

Universities, Christian (projected): in 
general, 638-640; for North China, 
644; for East China, 648; for Central 
China, 652; for Fukien, 656; for 
West China, 665. 

Universities, (government) : opportunity 
of, 198. 

University: Definition of, 209. 

University Education: aim of, 33; courses 
offered, 33. 

University Extension, 414, 416. 

University of Nanking, 218. 

University of Pennsylvania: medical work 
at Shanghai, 331; temporary experi- 
ment at Canton, 328. 

University Tutorial Class Movement in 
England, 409, 417. 



430 



INDEX 



Village Elementary Schools, 134; their 
place in a Christian program of rural 
education, 353; the cost of eighty- 
seven schools, 670; their relative cost, 
676. 

Vocational Guidance: its value, 94; a 
suitable task at present for the Chris- 
tian Association, 505. 

Week-Day Schools for Religious education, 
481-490; course of study in, 486; ser- 
vice of worship in, 489; voluntary 
Christian service of, 490. 

West China, Education in: finally coopera- 
tive, 44; cooperation in education in 
higher instruction, 45 ; agricultural de- 
velopment in, 355; Union University, 
220, 332; recommendations regarding 
education in, 641, 662-665. 

West China Union University, 220, 322, 
665, 707, 717. 

What $10,000 Will Do in Christian Educa- 
tion, 676. 

Women's Colleges: cost of, 680. 

World Association for Adult Education, 
409, 412. 

World Student Christian Federation: 508. 



includes four enterprises, 323 ; sup- 
ported by Alumni of Yale and by 
Hunanese, 323; possible future ad- 
justment of medical work at, 324; 
forestry courses at, 342. 

Yenching College for Women, Peking, 
opened in 1908, 432; affiliated in 1920 
with Peking University, 433; enrol- 
ment, 433. 

Young Men's Christian Association: influ- 
ence in government schools, 87; educa- 
tional work of, 104, 414, 455, 501, 
510; social activities of, 373, 377; 
training of voluntary workers, 490; 
leadership in health education, 514; 
summer conferences, 563. 

\cung Women's Christian Association, 
377; influence in government schools, 
87; training school for physical direc- 
tors, 88; educational work of, 104, 
4:4, 455, 501-510; social activities of, 
373; the training of secretaries, 453; 
training of voluntary workers, 490; 
relation to religious education in the 
home, 497; leadership in health educa- 
tion, 514; training of physical di- 
rectors, 513; summer conferences, 563. 



Yale-in-China, Changsha, 219, 323; co- 
educational in pre-medical course, 433; 



Zone of Safety in Educational cost, 679. 



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